


The Takeover

by meus_venator



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Billionaire businessman!Jared, Don’t copy to another site, Genius inventor!Jensen, M/M, Potentially triggery flashbacks to pre and post rape scenes. No actual rape depicted. PTSD, Younger!Jensen (4 years younger than Jared)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:16:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 35,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22820533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meus_venator/pseuds/meus_venator
Summary: Brilliant inventor Jensen Ackles was shocked when the struggling robotics company he'd slaved over for years was threatened by a surprise takeover bid. Even more surprising was the personal interest his new billionaire boss, corporate giant Jared Padalecki, was taking in the company. Decisive and dominant Jared always put his work first. But as impressed as Jared seemed to be with Jensen’s sharp mind and innovative ideas, what sizzled between him and Jensen was more tantalizing – and complicated – than either of them expected.
Relationships: Jared/Jensen
Comments: 150
Kudos: 174
Collections: SPN Meant to Be Master Collection





	1. Building a Bold New World

**Author's Note:**

> **Title: ** [The Takeover](https://meus-venator.livejournal.com/130793.html)  
**Author: **[](https://meus-venator.livejournal.com/profile)[**meus_venator**](https://meus-venator.livejournal.com/)  
**Artist:** [](https://meus-venator.livejournal.com/profile)[**meus_venator**](https://meus-venator.livejournal.com/)  
**Genre: **SPN RPS  
**Pairing: **Jared/Jensen****  
******Rating:** ****NC-17  
******Words:** ****35k  
******Warnings: ** ****Potentially triggery flashbacks to pre and post rape scenes. No actual rape depicted. PTSD
> 
> **Written for:** [](https://spn-meanttobe.livejournal.com/profile)[**spn_meanttobe**](https://spn-meanttobe.livejournal.com/) **2020**  
** | [Master Post LJ](https://meus-venator.livejournal.com/130793.html) |  
**
> 
> ¤ ¤ ¤
> 
> **   
  
****Prompt:** No. 6. Acquiring Mr. Right**   
**
> 
> Brilliant and beautiful executive Krista Aquilon was shocked when the struggling appliance company she'd slaved over for years was sold in a surprise takeover bid. And even more surprising was her new billionaire boss, corporate raider Lance Carrington. Decisive and dominant, ruthless businessman Lance always put his work first. But as impressed as Lance was with Krista's sharp financial mind and innovative ideas, there was another reason he couldn't get his newest employee out of his mind. What sizzled between him and Krista was more tantalizing – and complicated – than any white-knuckled negotiation. Now it was up to Lance to make sure things weren't strictly business…  
  
**Author's Notes:**  
My thanks to my terrific beta's [](https://onlythefireborn.livejournal.com/profile)[**onlythefireborn**](https://onlythefireborn.livejournal.com/) and [](https://fufaraw.livejournal.com/profile)[**fufaraw**](https://fufaraw.livejournal.com/).This is my first significant piece of writing in several years and to say I was rusty is a vast understatment. It took major effort from these fine ladies to whip my story (and me) into shape. I thank you for both the pom pom waving and the stellar advice and editing. This story is a billion times better thanks to your efforts and good humour.  
  
**A/N2:** **For triggery pre and post rape scenes**, all of those, (as well as some regular flashbacks) are in italics. So steer clear of italics if this is something that will bother you.  
  
RE: Corporate Takeovers. A bit of handwaving was taken in my portrayal of a Corporate Takeovers. As I have not, nor have I ever been a corporate raider in real life, this is just my wild imaginations version of how it might work : )
> 
> **Disclaimer: **Any resemblance between the two underwear models depicted in my story and any person living or dead is strictly a coincidence. I don't know the boys, they don't know me, this is a work of pure fiction. No harm intended.  
  
********  


The smell woke him, dark and rich as sin, as it wafted under his nose. He breathed in the tantalizing aroma and groaned softly. He was having such a nice dream, something about sandy beaches and soft breezes… He tried to fight his way back to the sensation of sand between his toes and ignored the delectable smell. It was way too early to actually wake up and face the world.

“Uhh, Boss?”

He squeezed his eyes more tightly closed, ignoring the voice only a few feet away, but it was too late; his bladder was already sending up signals that _nownownow_ was really a good time to get moving. He licked desert-dry lips and braced himself for the whole waking process. It wasn’t going to be pretty. Groaning, he sat up, some of the keys on his keyboard sticking to his face as he rose, bringing the keyboard with him. Gravity finally asserted itself, and it let go, clattering to the desk.

“Umph.”

He scrubbed his hands across the key imprints on his cheek and arched in his chair, rolling his hips to loosen stiff, aching joints. He could feel them pop and grind. “Why do I do this to myself?” he groaned, squinting against the light as he reached for the coffee.

“Because you’re a foolish man who ignores the advice of his brilliant assistant.”

Jensen cracked one crusty eyelid open and glared at Danneel. It was disgusting how chipper and alert she looked every morning in her neatly-ironed lab coat. This morning her red hair was tucked tidily to the back in a sleek bun, blue-rimmed glasses perched halfway down her pert nose, as she smirked at him before tapping at her work tablet.

“Remind me to fire you when I’m fully awake,” Jensen croaked, one jaw-cracking yawn later.

“But I brought you coffee and everything!” Danneel pouted.

“’S not enough. You’re enjoying this way too much.” He took his first long swig.

Danneel sighed. “You got me there, Boss. And, much as I love to listen to you snore with your mouth open and watch the drool run into your keyboard, I was supposed to remind you that you have a meeting this morning with Jim. Something about a new round of financing?”

“What! That’s today?” Jensen jolted upright in his chair and took another big slug of his coffee. “What time is it now?”

“7:30.” Danneel rocked back on her heels innocently.

“7:30! The meeting’s at 8:00! What the hell, Danneel?”

“Oh, quit griping. You have a whole half hour, Boss. We’ll get you cleaned up. Remember,” Danni smiled sweetly at him, “I brought you coffee.”

Jensen rolled his eyes and stood. He had just enough time to hit the washroom and get changed. With practiced hands he stripped off his lab coat and tugged off his shirt. It wasn’t like Danni hadn’t seen him with his shirt off before.

He heard her grumbling about someone needing to “eat a sammich once in a while,” but ignored the jab. There was some truth to it; he’d been pushing himself pretty hard for a while now and skipped meals. He’d have to stock up on some energy bars or something. He quickly disengaged the sensor belt wrapped around his waist and tugged off the various connections plugging him into his computer, monitoring the neural signals travelling through his body.

“Oh lordy! All that bare skin, I do declare!” Danneel mockingly fanned herself as he ducked into the bathroom. Jensen resolutely ignored the teasing.

After attending to his insistent bladder he washed up, humming tunelessly as he ran his shaver over this morning’s stubble and wished for the tenth time that he’d thought to put a mirror in the damn room. All the formal labs had been taken, so Jensen had carved this area for his own research projects out of a former delivery/storage bay. He just hadn’t thought through all the design details of building a bathroom, including clothing hooks, shelves, places for toilet paper, and a mirror. Suzy Homemaker he was not. He’d have to hope he didn’t miss anything; his spiky, dirty-blonde hair normally didn’t need any fussing. Self conscious, he scrubbed his face again to rid himself of the keyboard impressions and sighed. There wasn’t much he could do about it now.

He stalked out of the bathroom and was greeted by Danni ripping the plastic off one of the freshly-laundered shirts he kept for emergencies.

“You are so fired when I get back.” Jensen glared at his assistant. Unperturbed, Danni held the pale grey button-down for him, and he bowed his head obligingly as she slipped a loosely-knotted tie over his head. “You know you’re adorable when you’re all rushed and flustered,” Danneel purred as she tightened the knot.

Jensen growled, and she patted his shirt affectionately, “Easy, Tiger! Save it for the money men.” A quick snap off the hanger and Danneel poured him into a fresh, unwrinkled lab coat and then stuffed his ID card in his breast pocket. “And you be careful, Jensen Ross Ackles. Osric told me a story about a company that Padalecki Industries wanted to invest in. Somehow the deal went sour, and the company tried to get Padalecki to pay more than he thought was fair. Rumor has it that Padalecki went around to all the clients doing business with that company and told them how he was being blackmailed—that they might be next, and that he was going to the competition. All of them jumped ship with him! Within six months the original company went bankrupt. Padalecki picked them up for a song, fired the board and all the senior staff, and started over. So just don’t piss the man off, okay?”

Jensen adjusted his tie, a shiver of dread running down his spine.

Unaware, Danneel continued to primp and straighten his clothes, “And you’re ready.”

Jensen leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’re the best.”

“Oh, don’t I know it. Oh, here–” she pulled out a napkin-wrapped muffin from her lab coat pocket. “You look like you could use this more than me. Enjoy.” She thrust it into his hand. “Does this mean I’m not fired?”

Jensen eyed the muffin, his stomach growling in approval. He took his time as he downed the last of his coffee. Danneel was side-eyeing him by the time he pursed his lips and announced, “Maybe!”

She shook her head, a twinkle in her eye, unsurprised. He grinned as he took a huge bite out of the treat and tossed the empty coffee cup in the garbage on his way out the door. The cup bobbled haphazardly around the rim before it finally dropped inside the receptacle. Jensen did a fist pump. “Ha, two points! The crowd goes wild…Wish me luck!” he called back as he legged it out of the lab toward Beaver’s office at the far side of the complex.

“Oh wait! Jay!” Danneel yelled after his departing figure, “You forgot to take off—” but it was too late. The glass doors of the lab had already snicked closed behind him. “Good luck, Boss.” Danneel smiled fondly as he rounded the corner, disappearing from sight. “You’re gonna need it, I think.”

As Jensen strode across the vast series of interlinked buildings, he pondered the coming meeting. It had been no news to the scientific community that his company had been looking for development money, actually getting a bit desperate for it, but even Jensen had been surprised when the enigmatic Jared Padalecki, well known in oil and natural gas circles, had responded to the call. Padalecki Industries’ interest in backing him was more than just a departure for their company; it was a complete sea change. With the passing of his father, Gerald Padalecki, Jared used the transition in leadership to put his own stamp on the company, and the timing for Jensen’s company just happened to work.

All Jensen knew was that Padalecki had a reputation for being ruthless and decisive. He had cut a swath through his father’s aging group of companies, downsizing and merging until they were a model of capitalist efficiency. He had also, according to several magazine articles Jensen had read, gone to great lengths to invest heavily in renewable industries and had a reputation of turning lead to gold. He was the entrepreneurial darling of Time magazine and one of the youngest billionaire CEO’s in the world. And if his photos were anything to go by, he was a gorgeous specimen of manhood that appeared at all the right functions, but to date hadn’t been seriously linked with anyone—_Wait. What_ Jensen had tucked that thought away for further analysis later on.

It seemed like Jared—or Wonderboy, as Jensen had started to think of him—could do no wrong, every business decision a triumph, every move a winner. Which made it interesting that he had wanted to invest in ARM. So far Padalecki’s portfolio hadn’t included biotech, but whatever the reason, he was interested in that area now. Jensen was happy to take the meeting. It had been a grueling couple of years, and now they were at a critical point in their launch and needed the extra capital to staff up for the extra push to get them to market.

Jim’s words from a year ago echoed in his mind. _“Now, I don’t mind that you hide down in that bachelor pad lab you got rigged up in storage locker Six. Work on God knows what pet project you want in your spare time, but I need you in the paying parts of the business during work hours. We’re starting to hurt, Jensen.” Jim raked his hand through his thinning hair. “We’re taking a beating in the rollout phase. Tariffs on aluminum are skyrocketing, some of our Chinese plants are acting like spoiled brats, and a lot of our key components are coming in at twice their original estimated price. Osric has done all he can, but he’s exhausted.”_

_Jim turned to the large window in his office and watched as their employees trickled into the office early. Not even six o’clock yet, but they were here, everyone pushing to stay on track. Jim bowed his head in gratitude for their dedication. _

_Jensen watched him. The harsh morning light showed just how much Jim had aged these last few years: the pallor of his skin, the weariness around his eyes. Jensen was startled to realize that for the first time in his life, his uncle looked old. And Jensen was responsible for that. The company’s potential success and the accompanying stress were grinding down Jim’s already compromised system. Jensen clenched his teeth. This was on him, this was all on him._

_“God damn it all!” Jim raged. “We’ve got good people, and they’re trying their damnedest, but we need to tighten all this shit up. We need someone at the wheel who knows exactly what they need to buy and how to get it at the best price. And right now that someone is you.” Jim jabbed his finger at Jensen. Jensen grimaced. He’d been distracted by his new project, lost in the excitement of creation; he hadn't known things had gotten this bad._

_“So far, the bank's been understanding, and I've secured us a couple of loans, but I need you to focus, son. Once we get a reliable backer, we can expand and hire, and you can get back to inventing. It shouldn’t be forever.” Jim stared at him, his faded blue gaze serious in a way Jensen had seldom seen. _

_“I hear you, Jim. I’m sorry, I’ll do better.” Jensen’s teeth caught at his bottom lip as he nodded. “We’ll get through this. I mean it.”_

_“I hope the hell so, son, because we’ve really overextended ourselves here. If we slip up, you’ll be working out of the basement of that apartment building you live in, and the rest of us will be on the street.” Jim rubbed at his beard, “You hear me?”_

_Jensen nodded again. _

_“Okay, then. Let’s do this.”_

Jensen had been as good as his word. He’d spent his days in the labs doing testing and quality control, and his nights on the phone with China, monitoring manufacturing details and specs. The thirteen-hour time difference was a real bear. He shoved his own project into whatever free time he had left when he could stay awake. So far it had been working. It wasn’t a schedule he’d want to keep up forever, but he could do it for the next year, until their first line got out the door. Padalecki could be the answer to it all going more smoothly.

Jensen’s long legs ate up ground as he crossed the campus. A glance at his watch showed him he was actually going to be ten minutes early. Great, he’d be able to talk tactics with Jim before Padalecki joined them. He resisted the urge to scrub at his face again. He glanced around as he entered Jim’s suite of offices, but Padalecki was nowhere in sight. PERFECT, he still had lots of time. A rich boy wonder like Padalecki would probably keep them waiting, anyway. “Morning, Stella.” He waved at Jim’s secretary as he blew through Jim’s doors. Stella rose from her seat.“Mr. Ackles! Mr. Ackles, wait, Jim’s…”

But the doors were already closing behind him.

“The Wonderboy isn’t here yet, Jim, so we have time to discuss….” Jensen’s words trailed off as he saw the room had more than one occupant. Jim’s lips narrowed to a thin line as he stared at Jensen in dismay.

“Oh,” Jensen blurted as the man seated across from Jim rose and turned toward him.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Maybe he just needed to get laid more often. Whatever the reason, Jensen’s exhausted mind wondered if this was some kind of trick. Because the man making his way toward Jensen was far more handsome and intimidating than any of the impressive shots he’d seen in the business and men’s magazines he’d researched. Far more like a seasoned hunter sizing up his prey than a stuffy head of business. Tall, with an athletic build, his grey Savile Row suit perfectly tailored to accentuate his broad shoulders. He was just Jensen’s type–if Jensen actually dated enough to have a type–with sharp features and a chiseled jawline. But it was his multi-colored hazel eyes, slightly tilted, that really caught Jensen’s attention. The blue-green gaze trained on him right now was both possessive and predatory. He thought about that wolfish look focused on him on a regular basis. Jensen licked suddenly dry lips and shivered.

_Brilliant blue eyes were the first thing he noticed about him, sharp and piercing, watching him. With a practiced ease he strolled across the room toward him. “Hey, Green Eyes, haven’t seen you around here before.” He clamped cruel fingers around Jensen’s chin with a too tight grip Jensen shivered in fascinated dread at the predatory gleam in those bright eyes._

Jensen flinched. Hazel eyes replaced blue, and he was back, watching Padalecki approach. His elegantly-coiffed chestnut hair was combed back from his handsome face, and he grew taller and more good-looking, the closer he came. Although Jensen himself topped out at just over six feet, he had to tilt his head to meet Padalecki’s eyes once he finally stopped in front of him.

His features were cast in shadow as he looked down at Jensen, but there was a definite twinkle in those hazel eyes. “Wonderboy here, but you can call me Jared. And you must be Doctor Jensen Ackles, brainchild behind ARM, Ackles Research in Motion.”

Numbly, Jensen shook the offered hand. Padalecki’s warm touch sent tingles up Jensen’s arm. Jensen’s mind furiously churned at how scientifically improbable that was, like a line out of some romance novel, but it was happening, all the same. Any possibility of carrying through on the careful introduction he’d practiced the night before was completely shattered by the chaos in his head and the reality of meeting Jared Padalecki. He studied their clasped hands as he scrambled furiously for something intelligent to say.

_Get it together, Ackles_, he scolded himself. _ You’re making an ass of yourself. He’s just a guy, an investor no less, and probably no more interested in me than I am in taking up taxidermy. _Disgusted with himself, Jensen glanced up just as Padalecki gripped his hand to reel him in closer. Jensen bit back a squawk of surprise.

With a conspiratorial grin Padalecki leaned down to he murmur in his ear. “Nice hat.”

Dazed by the flash of dimples and obvious humor in the man’s voice, Jensen just stood there, his hand still in Jared’s grip. An eternity seemed to pass before his shorted-out synapses fired again, and he snatched his hand out of Padalecki’s hold and grabbed at his head. He almost groaned when he felt his neural testing cap still firmly on his head, with its hundred sensors and lights that had monitored his brain wave activity during his test trials last night. With a loud curse, he yanked the rubber cap off and stuffed it in his pocket. Danneel was so fired.

Heat flooded his cheeks as Padalecki continued to gaze at him like one of the wolves in the zoo studying a tasty snack. The final straw came when one of Jared’s long, elegant hands came up to rub over his own cheek; Jensen realized the keyboard indents must still be showing on his own. Damn, so much for making a good impression. He was botching this completely.

Marshaling his remaining nerve, Jensen finally managed to sputter out, “Sorry I’m late, long night.”

Jensen bit back a groan when Padalecki arched an elegant brow and gave him a knowing look before he turned to Jim, “Actually, it’s me that’s early. Jim was going over some documents with me before we got started. My team is having coffee and breakfast in the board room.”

“I think maybe a little more coffee might be just what the doctor ordered,” Jim offered as he rolled his wheelchair out from behind his desk. “Jensen’s known for not being quite right before his third cup in the morning. Why don’t we head on over there so I can begin our presentation while our resident genius wakes up?”

“Honestly, I think time travel and a do-over are really what I need, but all I’ve got is this.” Jensen stuck his hand out to Jared again to shake. “It’s Jensen. Welcome to ARM. We’re excited to show you what we’re all about. And yeah, more coffee’s a must.”

“The brain, even years after damage from a stroke or degenerative disease, still sends out orders to the body. Orders that could allow you to pick up things, shave, control bladder function, a whole range of movements or actions. But those orders are blocked or cut off from their final destination by the damaged sections of the brain.” Jensen looked out at the team Padalecki had brought—three men, two women—scattered around him in the comfortable chairs of ARM's presentation room. Padalecki himself was seated nearest Jensen, while Jim wrangled the presentation slides off his laptop to the big-screen TV dominating the room.

In most public gatherings, Jensen felt awkward and shy, but when it came to talking about the technology he’d developed at ARM, he was in complete control, supremely confident. “As you know, ARM is best known for its neural amplifiers. Our technology portages those blocked brain signals to where they need to go. Take Frank Gun, here.”

A clip played showing a man, mid fifties, a little overweight and balding, gritting his teeth as he tried to lift a cup of water from one side of the table to the other. Tremors wracked the man’s body, making the process painful to watch as most of the contents of the cup spilled on the table. Defeated, the man set the cup down. It bounced and spun, sending the remaining droplets of water across the man’s chest as his hand continued to tremble and jerk in uncontrollable spasms.

“As you can see from the clip, Frank was suffering from severe neurological tremors. After three weeks we were able to map Frank’s neural pathways and target the best spot to implant our amplifier so that it would do the most good and move the messages to the proper parts of the brain and, in turn, to the body so he could regain control of his motor functions.”

Jim resumed the recording, this time showing Frank with the tremors now almost imperceptible. “Now Frank is able to do simple tasks that were completely beyond him before. And as the program improves and continues to learn from Frank, even those minor tremors should cease.”

“How long did something like this take?” Dr. Robert Benedict, the Assistive Technology medical consultant Jared had brought with him, asked.

“Well, Frank was one of our early human trial subjects. I think it took four weeks.”

Dr. Benedict’s eyebrows rose. “For this significant an improvement?”

“Yes. Exciting stuff, right?” Jensen beamed with pleasure. “And that time to map the brain is only getting faster as our technology grows more sophisticated, and we have a larger database to draw from.”

Jared scribbled some notes in his tablet and looked up, his expression inscrutable. “Interesting concept. And you have this technology up and running?”

“Short answer, yes. In that lab it’s working perfectly. But that’s where you come in. We've done what we can do, without outside financing, to build the diagnostic units to put in the field for the actual mapping. But now we need facilities where we can train doctors to analyze the data, and how it corresponds with the positioning and implanting of the amplifiers.”

Dr. Benedict raised his hand. “You’re talking brain surgery here?”

“Well, no. The application of the amplifier is external. We don’t actually have to open up the brain, at least not in 80% of cases, which makes it so much safer to implement. The roughly quarter-sized device can simply be positioned on the skull. Just as long as we pinpoint the best location to bridge the neural gap.”

“Wow, so that means this could actually work on other parts of the body?” The doctor shook his head in wonderment, his glasses sliding lower down his nose as he grew more excited. The rest of the team looked equally stunned.

Jim jumped in. “We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. For this part of the funding project we are focusing on bridging neural gaps in the brain.”

“But there are other applications?” Jared's financial officer, George Hawkins, asked, digging like an excited terrier through the confidential PowerPoint presentation Jim had printed out for all of them.

“Absolutely, but we need to start at the top, as it were." Jensen rapped a couple of knuckles against his head and gave a little grin. “That’s where most problems begin.” The group chuckled, and he went on. “But once we finesse this first use and roll it out to the medical community, there is a lot of room for growth.”

“Does it work in all cases?” Jared asked, his fingers templed before him in his lap.

“Unfortunately, no. Depending on the degree and type of brain damage, sometimes the actual signal source is what the stroke, accident, or disease has destroyed. In those cases there is very little we can do at that point. But in the cases we can help, we’ve seen a 90% rate of improvement.”

“Impressive results, and some very ambitious plans, Dr. Ackles.” Jared nodded, his team murmuring approval among themselves. “I’d definitely like to learn more.”

The rest of the morning flew by quickly, and after a catered lunch and another short session, it was time for the facilities tour. There was a small round of applause for Jensen’s presentation, and Jim shook hands with the team before turning to Jared.

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Padalecki—Jared,” Jim corrected himself. “I look forward to hearing your thoughts tomorrow.” Jim shook Jared’s hand and looked at Jensen. “Meet you back at my office when you’re done here.” Jim nodded and headed off. Jensen could tell from the droop in his shoulders that his uncle was weary. Jim wasn’t a young man anymore, and long meetings like these wore on him. The tour was the perfect excuse for a break.

Jensen led their small group out into the atrium, where a slim young Asian man was waiting for them. Jensen clapped the man on the back and smiled.

“I’ll turn you all over to our facilities manager, Osric Chau, here. Don’t let his youth fool you. The man’s an MIT grad and he can single-handedly keep track of every neuron in the building.” Jensen side-eyed Osric, who stood there grinning shyly in his ARM lab coat. “Osric’ll take you through the labs and production areas. Any questions he can’t field, I can take a kick at tomorrow when we meet back here at 10:00 to continue our talks.”

Osric was already directing the group towards the labs, but Jared unexpectedly stayed behind with Jensen. They stood shoulder to shoulder as the rest of the group headed off toward the labs. Jensen’s butterflies returned as he wracked his brain for something to say, but all he could think about was how Jared touched his cheek that morning. Jensen was still fumbling when Jared took matters into his own hands.

“Smart man, your uncle. I know he’s trying to do what’s best for you and the company. I enjoyed spending time with him.” Jared tucked his tablet into his breast pocket and turned to face Jensen. “And you’re a smart man as well. Graduated first in your class at MIT at the age of 17. Worked at all the top neural net research companies in the world before leveraging your father’s shipping dynasty to open ARM. I like smart men, Jensen. And I like your company. Let me take you to supper, I’d like to get to know you better.” Jared’s long fingers ran feather light along the top of Jensen’s hand. “See what I’m investing in.”

Jensen startled, but didn’t find Jared’s touch threatening like he might have expected. He nodded jerkily as he absorbed that idea. The line Jared’s fingers had run along his skin tingled.

“Ah, yeah, sure. I mean, yes, that would be great. Where would you like to meet?” Jensen floundered, then swallowed hard, his carefully re-collected synapses scattering to the wind all over again, unsure what places were good to go anymore.

“I’ll have my driver, Ty, pick you up at your apartment at say, seven? I visit San Antonio fairly regularly, so I know several good places we could grab a bite.”

“Sounds good.” Jensen hoped his voice sounded steady.

“I look forward to it,” Jared replied with a sphinx-like smile.

Bemused and still a little in shock, Jensen watched Jared cross the atrium to rejoin the group. His analytical side regarded this as a complete waste of time; he could be in the lab tonight, working. Instead he would be out hobnobbing with a client, a chore he thought Jim was infinitely more capable of doing. But if he was being honest with himself, a darker part couldn’t wait to see the charismatic Jared again. The man made him feel both uneasy and, for the first time in a long time, excited at the prospect of a night out on the town.

A bump on the hip jolted him out of his reflection. Danneel joined him in the hall, a wrapped sandwich in one hand and a drink in the other. “So, who’s Tall and Totally Edible, there?”

“I’m not quite sure,” Jensen replied, not even trying to be enigmatic. He looked at Danneel’s lunch, wrinkling his brow. “You buy that from the caf?”

“Oh Lord no, that cafeteria food will kill you. Brandy went for a deli run, and we all just met at the caf to grab our orders from her.”

“Oh. I was worried you were risking ptomaine poisoning or something.”

“Hey, wait!” Danneel punched him in the arm. “I see what you tried to do there, changing the subject.”

Jensen rubbed his arm, “Ow!”

“Serves you right! If you’re not interested in him, give a girl a break and give me his number. Finally, a guy I don’t have to worry about wearing heels with.”

Jensen smirked, “Actually, I forgot to get it, but he’s picking me up for a business meeting tonight.”

“A date!!! Oh—Myyyy—God—JENSEN!!!!” she squealed.

“Wait, no! It’s a business meeting.”

Danneel snorted. “Are you blind? Seriously, when Tall, Dark and Gorgeous asks you out for dinner, it’s not a business meeting. He doesn’t want to get to know you, he wants to get to KNOW you, Jensen.”

“He—he’s a potential investor!” Jensen protested. And no, his voice didn’t exactly squeak, he assured himself. But it was close.

“Are you seriously that blind, Boss? We really do need to get a mirror for that bathroom. Have you looked at you lately? Any man would be blind not to want all that.”

“Danneel, please. He probably doesn’t even swing that way.”

“I saw the way he looked at you, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t just want to check out your financial assets.”

“You’re seriously crazy. Your bun is pulled back too tight or something.”

Unfazed, Danneel shrugged, “I guess we’ll see. So, what are you going to wear? Can I help? Can I dress you?”

“I’m not a Ken doll.”

“Jensen, when was the last time you dressed for a date? Come on. I have some of Chad’s old clothes I think might fit. And that man knew how to dress, even if he wasn’t gay. You, you’re an anomaly.”

Danneel looked at him knowingly, and Jensen had the sinking feeling he was losing this argument. “I know one thing I’m not wearing—the neural cap. And thanks so much for the heads up this morning, you ratfink.”

Danneel actually blushed. “Ah, yeah, sorry about that. I tried to tell you… So, when should I come over?”

“I don’t need any help, thank you very much.” Jensen rolled his eyes. He had this.

¤ ¤ ¤

^^ Comments always appreciated


	2. The Clothes Make the Man

And that’s why at 6:00pm Danneel was at his door, garment bag over her shoulder. “Shall we get started?” she smirked as he opened the door.  


“You know, Jensen, I know you can afford better than this dump. Why not spend a little of your hard-earned inheritance and get some nicer digs?” Danneel looked around Jensen’s apartment critically as she sifted through the garment bag and started to pull things, laying them out on the sofa. “This looks like the low-rent digs of a college kid, not a successful CTO of a top-ranked company.”

Jensen glanced around a little bewildered. He’d had this place since he moved here. Money had been tight then as he got the startup off the ground, but the place had pretty much everything he needed, and it all still worked for him. His guitar was in its stand in the corner, and the small kitchenette was easy to cook in, everything within arm’s reach, though he would admit, the new microwave he’d purchased last year had been a great addition.

Sure, the wallpaper drooped alarmingly in some of the corners, and there were cracks in the plaster that would make an earthquake blush. But he loved the penny tile in the bathroom and the big clawfoot tub/shower. The place was steeped in history, including the light sconces from the 1920’s, when the building had been a hotel.

His sofa had come from a secondhand store and had a convenient foldout bed, if he should ever have guests sleep over. The leather armchair was a prized possession from his dad's old study, which he had given to Jensen just months before he died. Jensen had always admired it, and it never once failed to bring fond memories of his father. He could admit the place might be looking a bit worse for wear in spots. But he could mark the history of ARM through all the small additions to the place, which made it feel like home.

“Eh, never really had the time to move.” He shrugged noncommittally. “So what’s all this? I have a perfectly good suit in the closet.”

Danneel rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that looks like you got it at the thrift store!” She pursed her lips, “The burgundy, I think.” She looked at Jensen critically, his hair still wet from the shower. “Yes, you’d look good in burgundy, with the electric blue shirt and burgundy tie. Well, we’ll start with that, anyway. Also—“ she pointed at a lovely moss-green plaid suit with burgundy stripes. “The green would match your eyes perfectly.”

Jensen stared at the suit thrust into his hands with a dubious expression.

“Don’t give me that look, 'Man Who Wears Flannel’ five days a week.’” Danneel waved her hand imperiously. “Just go, try it on. You will look spectacular.”

Jensen disappeared into his bedroom. Danneel’s haughty expression softened to a bittersweet smile. She whispered, “What you do with it after that, darlin’, is beyond my control.”

Ty held the door of Jared’s black limo for him. Jensen caught a glimpse of his reflection in the tinted window. He had to admit Danni knew her stuff, right down to the dusting of black eyeshadow she’d dusted across his eyelids. He hardly recognized himself. Somehow she’d managed to make him look like some exotic, smoky-eyed creature who’d just stepped off the runway. Lately his normal clothes had started to hang on him, making him look gaunt, but this suit fit his slim frame perfectly.

Thinking about meeting with Padalecki alone sent an entirely different sensation through his body as heat pooled between his legs. He was nervous, sure, but not fearful of this solo meeting. He wondered where his strange trust in Jared came from.

Jensen tugged at his pants, spreading his legs in an attempt to adjust himself discreetly. He resisted the urge to ask the driver where they were going; he wanted to be surprised. Instead he used the time to distract himself from his growing nervousness by reviewing his talking points about the company. Jim had almost chortled in glee when Jensen told him he was meeting Padalecki this evening. Together they’d spent over an hour rehearsing what Jensen could say. It wasn’t that Jensen didn’t know his own tech, but he had no idea of what was happening on the business side. The review helped settle the business butterflies that started up as soon as he’d left his apartment, but did nothing to quell his growing fascination with Padalecki himself.

In what seemed like no time, Ty pulled up to the curb of one of Austin’s most expensive high-rises, The Annex. Jensen looked around expectantly, but there were no restaurants visible on the main floor of the building. Ty opened the limo door and smiled. “Mr. Padalecki is awaiting you in his residence, sir, 55th floor.”

“Oh,” was all Jensen managed to mumble. A zing of pure pleasure shot through him at the idea of meeting Jared in the intimacy of his home. He tried to squash his excitement; maybe Padalecki wanted to go over a few things about the presentation first, which wasn’t so strange. It was increasingly difficult to keep his growing collection of conflicting thoughts under control

The doorman smoothly opened the door in advance of his entrance and punched the appropriate button on the elevator wall. 55 was the penthouse… of course it was. Nothing but the best for Wonderboy.

“Have a good evening, sir.” The doorman tipped his head as the elevator doors whisked closed.

Jensen glanced around the tasteful elevator interior, outfitted in honey-colored wood with bronze seams that exuded a rustic but sophisticated charm.

The elevator dinged, and Jensen stepped into the spacious vestibule, the elevator doors closing softly behind him. The wood and bronze theme continued here, further accented by a tastefully lit set of Texas longhorns mounted on one wall and a huge floor-to-ceiling glass panel on the other that showcased the San Antonio skyline. A lone bronze door directly opposite the elevator glowed under soft lights. Jensen did a quick calculation of the building’s footprint, and whistled softly—must be over 70,000 feet of space. He tried not to focus on the fact that Jared must have the entire floor to himself.

Jensen had grown up in relative wealth, thanks to his dad’s shipping company, but nothing on this scale, and this wasn’t even Jared’s primary residence. He looked for a doorbell, but the door was already opening.

Jensen had to check that his jaw hadn’t dropped open at the sight of Jared standing there, looking sexy as sin in soft grey lounge pants and a v-neck t-shirt, his hair soft and touchable, not the slicked-back look of that morning. Jensen’s fingers itched to reach out. Distracted, he almost missed what Jared said.

“Jensen, man, warn a guy.” Jared’s warm hazel gaze swept over him appreciatively, lingering long enough for Jensen to start to squirm, a zing of pleasure curling down his spine. Jared chuckled, his voice a husky growl. “Please, come in.”

Jensen licked his lips, desperate for something to say. Seemingly unaware of any awkwardness, Jared took him by the elbow and ushered him into the apartment. Jensen was surprised; once again, Jared’s gentle touch didn’t set off the usual alarm bells when someone touched him without permission. He exhaled in relief and concentrated on the feeling of calm Jared exuded as he escorted Jensen into the living room. The room was vast, with several seating areas as well as a long formal dinner table that looked like it could seat twenty people. Most riveting, though, were the two glass walls completely devoted to the view from a huge wraparound balcony and the amazing panorama of San Antonio beyond.

“Drink?“ Jared offered, releasing Jensen’s elbow to go to the bar. Jensen nodded, still too flustered to speak.

“You look gorgeous tonight, by the way.” Jared grinned wryly. “Somehow I didn’t expect a science guy to clean up quite so… sexy.”

Jensen eyebrows rose at the playful teasing. He perked up. Teasing he could handle. He furrowed his brow in mock consternation. “Are you calling me Bill Nye there, Wonderboy?”

“Oh, ah, well—only in the very best science-y way.” Jared admitted sheepishly, dimples on full display. “Before I get myself in more hot water—” he gestured toward the living room, “Take a look around. I’ll get our drinks.”

  
“Chickenshit!” Jensen replied with a smile and let himself to be drawn to the floor-to-ceiling glass doors. One set was open, and a soft summer breeze wafted through the space.

“Wow, quite the view,” Jensen mused as he wandered across the rooftop patio and gazed toward the skyline. The silky evening air blew gently over his face, and he rested his arms against the railing, breathing it in.

“I’ve got a bottle of red open, that okay?”

“Sure.” Jensen inhaled deeply, the air sweet. “This must be one of the tallest buildings in San Antonio. The view’s breathtaking.”

Jared strolled over from the bar. “It is. My father got a special permit when he built it.” As he passed him his glass of wine, their shoulders touched. “Cheers!” Jared gently clinked their glasses together. Jensen smiled, he hoped not too awkwardly. His whole side tingled from the heat Jared seemed to radiate. He shook his head and tried to concentrate on what Jared was saying.

“Yeah, that’s my old man.” Jared looked out at the skyline. “He wrangled permission to add five extra floors to the project. And as lead investor on the property, he had first dibs on the penthouse. No letting the grass grow under Gerald’s feet when he knew what he wanted.”

Jensen shivered. He imagined Jared could be every bit as ruthless as his father, and he wasn’t sure if that scared or excited him.

  
“Hey, we don’t have to stand out here if you’re cold. Come in, take a load off. We have the obligatory big comfy sofa. The whole family uses this place off and on, so we wanted it comfortable.”

Jensen glanced around, looking for Padaleckis to start coming out of the woodwork.

“No, no, no, don’t worry, I’m the only one here at the moment. But it’s nice having a familiar landing pad when I visit, rather than some anonymous hotel room.”

_—he and Jared in bed in some anonymous motel room, the sunlight filtering though bile green curtains blowing in the wind, sheets tousled, Jensen biting at Jared’s naked, sweaty shoulder as Jared thrust into him._

_Wait. What?_ Jensen choked on a hurried gulp of his wine, barely managing to cough out, “Yeah, this would be a great place to land.”

“You okay?” Jared’s brows knit in concern.  
“Fine, fine. No worries.” Jensen glanced around, desperate for a way to change topics. His face lit up. “Wow, is that a real Queenie McKenzie painting?”

“Good eye! I bought that at auction last year.”

They talked for a while about art, then family and their experiences growing up in Texas. They discovered a shared love of classic cars.

“You rebuilt a '67 Impala? Seriously!” Jared grinned and took another sip of his wine.

“Yeah.” Jensen smiled shyly and rubbed the back of his neck. “She was a gift from my dad. We rebuilt the engine for my 16th birthday. I still have her. She runs like clockwork.”

“That’s seriously hardcore, man.” Jared leaned back on the sofa, laughing, and Jensen was a little bemused at how easy it was to talk to Jared. He looked up as Jared refilled his glass; the man was gazing at him with a thoughtful expression. “Hey, I _was_ supposed to be dressed by the time you got here.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I’m fine.”

“No, I insist, with you all dressed up it would be a shame to stay in. We need to show you off. Any preferences?”

“Your call, really, I’m game for anywhere.”

“Okay, gimme ten.” Jared waggled his eyebrows and slapped the door frame before disappearing with a flash of killer dimples. “Prepare yourself.” He laughed enigmatically.

Ten minutes later Jared was back, dressed in a jet black suit with a rich burgundy tie that managed to match Jensen’s suit perfectly. Jensen could tell by the cut of the suit that it was easily worth five of Jensen’s borrowed threads. He made a mental note to send Danni flowers. “Classic black,” Jensen murmured.

“If you’re cool with it, I was thinking we could try out the new Indian restaurant on Main?”

“You can get us in?” Jensen's voice was skeptical. Even Jensen had heard of that place, which had been getting rave reviews. Danni had complained repeatedly about how long it took to get a reservation. .

  
Jared grinned and squeezed Jensen’s hand as he led him to the elevator. “I might know someone.” Both of them glanced down at their suddenly entwined hands, Jensen marveling at how easily he’d gotten used to Jared’s casual touches.

A smile lighted Jensen’s face. “Awesome.”

  
Jensen could not remember the last time he’d had so much fun. The small restaurant was intimate, filled with wonderful antiques from India. A low hum of conversation, scents of spicy food, and snatches of conversation made for a colorful ambiance. They’d been shown to a small booth in the back, but instead of sitting opposite, Jared sat next to him, so they both had a great view of the restaurant. The food was amazing. He hadn’t had butter chicken that good in, like, forever. And Jared was the perfect companion, regaling him with stories from his youth.

“—And then he said to me, 'Thanks, for the ride, maybe we’ll see you around sometime.’”

“'We?' I said. 'I thought it was just you and me?'

“‘Oh no, he says, I’m meeting my boyfriend up here. Thanks, though, the helicopter was way cool. Hey, did you want to take it back down the mountain? Because it looks like the guy's leaving.’

“And I turn around, and my dad must have called the pilot back because he really was leaving, no warning or anything. And I’d paid the guy extra! Well, bribed…”

“Oh, my God!“ Jensen burst out laughing at the idea of Jared, deathly scared of heights, stranded at the top of a ski hill after trying to impress a boy he was interested in. Or maybe his hilarity had something to do with the many glasses of wine Jared had plied him with all night.

“What did he do after that?” Jensen grinned, mopping the last bit of curry sauce off his plate with a piece of naan, debating the urge to lick his fingers. A waiter refilled their water glasses and offered them the dessert menu, which Jensen laughingly declined. When they were alone again, Jared resumed his story.

“He just skied down the hill with his friends, taking my broken heart with him.” With a dramatic sweep of his hands Jared covered his supposedly missing heart.

“So what did you do?” Jensen choked out.

“I did what any red-blooded American would do. I took my decorative skis that I’d bought to impress him and skied down the mountain by myself.”

“Oh, no! But you’d never skied before, and you said you’re scared of heights.”

“I didn’t say it was pretty. I lost one ski halfway down, plowed into a tree, and ended up sliding down the rest of the run, half on my butt, half with one foot on the other ski.”

“Your butt?!” By this point Jensen was howling. Diners at neighboring tables glanced over, smiling, wondering at the hilarity going on at their table.

“Yeah, it wasn’t pretty.” Jared shook his head dramatically. “To this day, I’m still banned from the mountain.”

Jensen snorted and closed his eyes. His sides hurt. “Now there’s a loss.”

“But I survived. And you know what it taught me?”

“God knows!” Jensen shook his head, grinning.

“Never, I mean NEVER pay the helicopter pilot ahead of time.”

This time Jensen seriously lost it, doubling over.

“I’m glad you think my love life is so funny,” Jared sniffed in mock umbrage.

Jensen tried to catch his breath; he was almost wheezing. “And how old were you then?”

“Seventeen. He was a mature twenty-two.”

Jensen snorted, “Serves you right. He was way too old for you.”

“He was only five years older.” Jared smiled, “But I've changed since then, now my only weakness is younger men, four years younger to be exact.”

— _“Hey youngster, you gonna make it up the hill, or do I have to come down and carry you the rest of the way?” Jared stood at the top of the jogging trail, hands on his hips, looking disgustingly fit as Jensen bent at the waist and tried to catch his breath. “Who’s stupid idea was it anyway to go jogging with a giant? I'm being beaten by a giant and an older one at that?” A sly smile filled his face. “Maybe you should come and get me.”_

  
Jensen froze, his head whirling at how easy it was to fall for Jared’s charm. He had to calm down. This was a work-related dinner, ‘get to know you’ with some casual flirting, nothing more.

“Hey, earth to Jensen! How about we jet and hit The Red Circle?” Jared’s smile was light and easy.

Jensen side-eyed him, still sober enough to recognize the name of the infamous club with an exclusive client list. Only the most rich and famous got in the door of The Red Circle.

“Sure, what the hell, it’s too late to work now anyway. Besides I’m too drunk.” Jensen’s eyes went wide as he realized what he had just said.

Jared squeezed his knee and stood to put on his jacket, “Your secret’s safe with me, Jay.”

Jensen stood, but gravity sent him back down. He hadn’t realized he was feeling so lightheaded. “Let’s try this again, shall we?” he muttered to himself and rose again, weaving slightly. He rounded on Jared sharply, almost tipping over. “Hey, how did you know my nickname was Jay?”

Jared paused, holding Jensen’s jacket in midair. It might have been the alcohol, but Jensen saw a slight tightening around Jared’s eyes before he smoothly recovered. “I- I, uh, must have heard it somewhere today, but it seems to suit. We good?” He nodded his head toward the jacket.

“M’good,” Jensen replied, as Jared helped stuff Jensen’s jello arms into his jacket sleeves. “Yahtzee!” he cried when both arms finally went in, and then there was the chore of getting to the restaurant exit. He concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.

“I think we should just walk there,” Jared announced, sounding far too fresh and sober. He hooked his arm in Jensen’s to steady him. “It would do us both good. It seems some Science Guys are serious lightweights.”

“S’true, can’t deny it,” Jensen sing-songed.

They heard The Red Circle long before they got there, the thump of bass echoing down the block. And although it was a weeknight, no one had told its patrons it was only Thursday. Seeing the large crowd, Jensen was grateful for the time outside. The fresh air had helped clear his head.

When Jensen moved to join the end of the line waiting to get in, Jared steered him away. “Stick with me, Bill.” Jared smiled and patted Jensen’s arm.

¤ ¤ ¤

^^ Comments always appreciated |


	3. The Red Circle

As they reached the main doors, a refrigerator-sized doorman stepped back from the head of the crowd and unlinked a roped-off section to let them in.

“Mr. Padalecki. sir, go right in.”

“Thanks, Omar.” Jared patted the security guard on the back as they passed.

A series of boos and other objections rose from the line. Jensen glanced back self- consciously. “But the others…” Jensen trailed off. He thought his voice was lost in the din.

Jared leaned in close, his breath a soft flutter against the shell of Jensen’s ear. “Don’t worry, Jay, I made reservations.”

Jensen blinked as his eyes adjusted to the sudden gloom. The club interior was dark as a cave, blue and white lighting strafing the dance floor to show just how vast the space was. A long blue neon line lit up a bar at one end of the former warehouse space, with red flashing lights at the DJ’s stage on the other end. Lining the two remaining walls were an eclectic collection of low tables and chairs, with small lights on each table that glowed red and gave their inhabitants a demonesque cast. Behind them sat a raised tier of softly-lit red velvet sofas divided by shimmery curtains of bead chain. Security guards stood like sentinels along the roped-off section, where the rich and famous of San Antonio were on display in a lurid red haze.

Jensen started for the bar, but Jared shook his head and gestured toward the seating area. Jensen hesitated at first, but then followed as Jared worked his way across the crowded dance floor. They made it through the undulating crowd to one of the security guards, who opened a roped-off access point to a sofa dead center of the wall.

A handwritten Reserved sign sat on the low table in front of the sofa, next to a bottle of champagne chilling in a bucket. Jensen’s eyebrows climbed; all the scene needed was a red rose.

Jared shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it on the seat, so Jensen did the same. The club was warm, the air heavy with the scents of perfume and alcohol and lust, the bass thumping in Jensen’s chest. He looked out over the crowd, the young and beautiful of San Antonio surging with the music, lights strobing over them. Maybe it was all the wine he’d had, or the bump and press of the dancers as they made their way to their seats, maybe the sheer volume of the music, but it all made Jensen feel alive and wild. His body moved to the beat.

Jared leaned close to Jared’s ear. “Champagne?”

“No, I want to dance.” Jensen rolled his shoulders and closed his eyes as he rocked to the music. He felt free, an untamed thing ready to fly. His eyes opened as Jared reached out and took his hand.

Jared laughed, dimples flashing in the red light. “Do Science Guys dance?”

“Us Bills, you mean?” Jensen replied, leaning against Jared’s chest as he shouted into his ear. “I don’t know, but this one wants to. Join me, Wonderboy?”

A wolfish smile filled Jared’s face. “Oh, and he plays the Wonderboy card. Okay, you’re on.”

Jared tugged on his hand, keeping hold of it as he led Jensen toward the teeming dance floor.

They threaded their way through the press of bodies. At one point Jensen’s hand slipped free from Jared’s, and skittering panic jolted through him as the crowd closed around him. Jensen pinwheeled through the crowd, alcohol-fueled claustrophobia clawing at him.

_Shoved, arms flailing ineffectively as he was crowded against the wall, one arm and then the other grabbed and twisted behind him in a punishing grip. Bright blue eyes stared down at him through the shadows, gloating..._

But then Jared was there, reaching through the crowd, reeling him in like a man drowning at sea, pulling him tight to his chest. Jensen cried out, a wild, manic sound lost in the throb of the music, and stared up at him in dazed panic, his heart racing. Jared frowned and hugged him in tight, shouted in his ear, “You okay there, Science Guy? I gotcha.” The crowd spun and surged around him.

Jensen clung to the solid rock that was Jared, and the terrors slowly leached away. He smiled tentatively and shouted, “Sometimes we Science Guys get a bit freaked out by large crowds! We’re solitary creatures by nature.” As Jared threw back his head and started to laugh, Jensen could feel it reverberate through his whole body, which only made him smile harder. Jared grabbed up his hand, both of them grinning like fools, and they continued weaving through the dancers until they found a place less crowded.

For all his bluster about dancing, Jensen was tentative and self-conscious at first. But as the music flowed, Jensen realized no one but Jared was even watching him. He loosened up and lost himself in the beat. There was nothing but the throb of the music and the warm, dark embrace of the crowd around them, the feel of Jared’s body against him when they came together.

They danced forever. As the night grew late, the music slowed. Jared stretched out his arms, and Jensen slid into them like he belonged. They swayed together, the long press of Jared’s body against his own like home. The music picked up pace but instead of breaking apart, Jared continued to hold him close, and Jensen found himself grinding up against Jared’s body in the dark womb of the dance floor, pushing, thrusting, straining for something more, the music pounding in his ears like a siren call. Jared pulled him close and cradled Jensen’s face in both hands, framing it. He stared at Jensen for a long time, gazing into his eyes as the light passed over them, his thumb rubbing gentle circles on his cheekbones. Jensen’s heart fluttered in his chest like a caged bird. Finally, Jared tilted his head, his tongue darting out briefly, before he leaned down to capture Jensen’s lips, firm tongue insistent at his mouth.

Jensen’s mouth opened, and their tongues entwined, letting go when both were dizzy with lack of air, only to have Jared lick along Jensen’s neck and jaw and pepper him with kisses until both of them were breathless. Then Jensen simply wrapped his arms around Jared’s neck, the music lulling them into a fugue state, until both of them lost all track of time.

Eventually Jensen became conscious of Jared motioning toward their seats, and he reluctantly followed through the thinning crowd.

Equal parts exhausted and exhilarated, Jensen sprawled on the sofa, his legs flung over Jared’s lap. “We should do that again!”

“Which part?” Jared chuckled and Jensen blushed furiously, the telltale red hidden by the lights.

“To a great evening.” Jared gently clinked his glass against Jensen’s. Jensen swallowed his champagne like a man in the desert and moaned at the empty glass. Laughing, Jared refilled their glasses. “And to thirsty work.” Jared grinned, leaning back again. He looked at Jensen over his glass, his eyes hooded in shadows. “You’ve never come here before?”  
“No, never seemed to have the time.” Jensen stopped himself from saying more. Jared didn’t need to know just how much of a geek he was.

  
“Well, I’m glad I was your first.”Jensen could hear the possessive tone in his voice and glanced up. Jared had the look of a great beast, sated after the hunt.

  
“I hate to say it, but we should head out, we’ve got a meeting tomorrow.”

  
“Not home!” Jensen pouted.

  
“Yeah, home? Jared! What a spoilsport you are.”

  
Jensen startled as a foot appeared on the back of the sofa, near his head. A figure loomed over him, arms crossed over his knee. Jensen squinted at the shadowed features, trying to put a name to the voice.

  
“You going to offer me a drink or what, Jensen?”

  
“Tom—” Jensen almost choked on the words, his sanguine mood evaporated. “What are you doing here?”

  
“I was in town on some business and decided to drop by. I would have come sooner if I’d known you’d be here. I never took you as the sociable type,” Welling leered.

  
“Maybe it’s the company that was the problem,” Jared interjected, his voice smooth. But Jensen could feel the muscles of Jared’s thigh tighten where Jensen was sprawled across him.

  
“Padalecki! It’s interesting to find you here as well, my boy, and in the company of our dear Jensen, no less. That’s a little out of your wheelhouse, isn’t it? No oil fields in Jensen’s patch.”

  
Jensen swallowed down the rest of his champagne to cover his unease. “You two know each other?”

  
Jared’s lips were a tight line as he stared at the intruder. “Welling here tried to take over one of our companies a few years back. Nothing more satisfying than sending a vulture capitalist back to its roost with its tailfeathers waxed.”

  
“It was just business, Jare. You’re just angry that you got stuck with that money-losing albatross. We could have taken it off your hands, easy.”

  
Jensen’s mouth twisted in disgust. Of course Tom would make his living now scooping up unprotected companies. Unwanted takeovers were, after all, his signature move since college. He glanced pointedly over at the champagne holder. “Oh look, we don’t seem to have an extra glass.”

  
“Too bad,” Jared replied. “Maybe you should take that as a sign, Welling.”

  
“Oh, if I was a big believer in signs and portents, I’d never have gotten anywhere now, would I? Take Jensen, for example. He tried to play all hard to get and shy, but in no time I had him right where I wanted him.”

  
“Fuck you, Tom!” Jensen snarled.

  
“But that’s not how it worked, did it, Jenny-boy?” Laughing, Tom ran his fingers down the side of Jensen’s face.

Jensen’s hackles rose immediately, and he slapped Tom’s hand away, jolting to his feet, nausea and anger competing with each other.

  
He clenched his fists to cover his shaking hands.

  
—_ Bright blue eyes stared down at him. Hands caught him out in the darkness. Uninvited, they touched his face, his chest, roaming over his chest, cock and ass like they had the right. He pushed them away but was shoved down. He shuddered and let out a violent scream._

Jensen could feel Jared’s concerned gaze on him. Fighting back the sick that threatened to fill his mouth, his heartbeat rabbiting, Jensen clawed his way back to the present.

  
“Time for you to go, Welling. Now!” Jared rose to his full height and stood nose to nose with Welling.

  
“Hey, hey, hey, no need to get hostile. I was just dropping by to see a close friend. I can take the hint. Besides I’ll be seeing much more of him soon.”

  
“What the fuck does that mean?” The words were out of Jensen’s mouth before he knew it.

  
Jared stepped closer, but Welling danced back, hands raised in surrender. “No need to spoil the fun. I’m saving the surprise. I’ll see you later, Jensen.” With a wink, Welling disappeared down the stairs and into the darkness.

  
“What the hell was that about?” Jensen muttered as he collapsed onto the sofa, breathing raggedly, his hands hanging between his knees as he struggled for breath.

  
“I could ask you the same thing.” Jared turned to stare at him. “You okay? What the hell did that bastard do to freak you out so badly?”

  
Jensen gripped his knees to hide his shaking hands. “M’okay, it’s old news. We, we knew each other in college, just a short time, he was a dick.” Jensen bit at his bottom lip looking away. “I haven’t seen or even thought of him since then.”

  
“I’m so sorry, Jensen. Let’s get the hell out of here.”  
“Yeah, sounds good.”

  
The cool evening soothed Jensen’s overheated cheeks, bracing after the shock of seeing Tom. Jared steered them toward Ty waiting with their limo, “Where to, Boss?”

Jared looked at Jensen, who licked his lips, unsure of anything except that he didn’t want to be alone right now. He blurted out, “Your place.”

Jared nodded, pleased. He squeezed Jensen’s hand, a look of wolfish anticipation crossing his face before he looked away. Jensen shivered, eager for the night to continue as well.

Jensen woke as the car came to a stop in front of Jared’s building. Jared was staring thoughtfully out the window, his arm curled warm around Jensen’s shoulders.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Jensen mused as he rubbed his hand over his face.

“Ah, just a million miles away.” Jared turned toward him. “You still good with this?”

“Yes.” Jensen replied, instantly awake. A smile twisted at Jared’s mouth.

“Good.”

  
The elevator ride seemed endless. Jared’s body standing close to his made Jensen’s gut flutter in interesting ways. He hadn’t been sure of anything when he got in the limo, but now that he was here, it felt right. He wanted to scrub Tom from his mind, but it was more than that. He felt drawn to Jared. He wanted to see it through, throw caution to the wind and just live.

“You okay?” Jared’s concerned gaze met his, and he wrapped his hand around Jensen’s wrist. Jensen’s pulse hammered wildly against his thumb.

“M’fine.”

As soon as the apartment door closed, Jared caught hold of Jensen’s elbows and walked him back against it, Jared’s hips trapping him against the door. “You are so beautiful,” Jared breathed, staring down at him like he was something precious. Jensen’s breath caught at the tender look on Jared’s face before his eyes darkened, and he surged forward to capture Jensen’s lips. “So damn beautiful,” he murmured, his breath hot, mouth open, exploring Jensen’s jawline and lips.

Jensen could only stand there panting as Jared’s lips made a hot, wet line down his neck, his tongue flicking into the hollow at the base of his neck before returning to lick and suck at his bottom lip. Jensen moaned, angling his head to give Jared more access.

Jared let go of Jensen long enough to yank off his tie; then, with a growl, he pulled one of Jensen’s arms around his own neck and quickly shrugged out of his jacket. Jensen’s breath caught as miles of crisp shirt were revealed. Then that was pulled away to reveal acres of tan, taut flesh. Jensen’s fingers fumbled with his own tie, and then shirt, both of them in a rush to shed anything separating them.

“Bedroom's there,” Jared rasped out, and Jensen nodded as they trip-hopped over discarded shoes, pants, and socks on their stumbling path to the room. Jensen started to laugh, the same wild, panicked cry he’d let loose at the club, as he tumbled headlong onto Jared’s giant four-poster bed, but he swallowed it down. This was nothing like his moment in the club; he tried to focus on that.

_“We should toast to your first time.” Bright blue eyes stared down at him. “Was it good for you, baby?” A rough hand fingered his aching ass. “Cause it was sure good for me. In fact, I think we should do it again.” The leering face replaced by darkness as he was shoved onto his belly, his face mashed into the bedding._

Jared landed beside him and gathered him into his arms.

Jensen jerked away in panic. “Just—just gimme a minute.” He sat on the side of the bed, his chest heaving like a bellows.

Jay! Jesus, are you okay?” Jared’s hand gently touched his hip.

“Just…just dealing with some old ghosts.”

“Did I—?”

“No, no, you did nothing wrong.”

“Fuck. I want to go smash Welling into the ground. Is this because of him? Did he —?”

Jensen’s breathing started to return to normal. “No, just let it go. Please.” Weary, Jensen lay back down,

Jared covered him with a sheet, “This okay?”

Jensen nodded and reached to grab at Jared. “Lie with me.”

“You sure?”

Jensen nodded, so Jared eased in behind him, the big spoon. The heat of Jared’s body soothed him, and Jensen nodded off to sleep, happy to be the little spoon.

He woke some undetermined time later to find Jared still at his side, leaning on his elbow as he watched him sleep.

“See something you like?” Jensen smiled sleepily, stretching like a great cat and flopping over on his belly.

“You know I do.” Jared’s finger trailed over Jensen’s hip. “You feeling better?”

“Mmm.” Jensen stretched again, his gaze roaming over Jared’s bare chest where the sheet had dropped away, short hair curled across his chest, a faint treasure trail disappearing under the covers. Jensen licked his lips.

“This happen often?” Jared’s fingers continued to lightly explore.

“Not too often. Sometimes new situations can trigger them.”

“Like me?”

“Not really you. My brain isn’t really wired the same as most people’s.”

Jared chuckled, “You don’t say?”

“Now you’re mocking me.” Jensen rolled onto his back and crossed his arms in mock indignation.

Dimples appeared as Jared smiled. “Never.”

“Would you do something for me?” Jensen turned towards Jared. His hand touched the softly curling hair at his neck.

“Anything.” Jared’s expression became dead serious, and Jensen shivered. This was the face Jared’s opponents saw. This was the face of the Wolf.

“Kiss me.”

Like a knight accepting a holy quest, Jared nodded and leaned in, his pupils blown wide with desire. The kiss was sweet and gentle; only when Jared knew Jensen wasn’t going to shatter into a million pieces did it become more fierce.

Jensen hummed in approval, wrapping his leg around Jared’s to pull him in tight. “I won’t break. I promise,” he murmured into Jared’s ear before turning to rub his face against Jared’s, stubble against stubble.

Kisses turned into touches as the heat built between them. Soon the sheet was tossed to the floor, and Jensen straddled Jared’s hips, his hands buried in Jared’s hair.

  
“Want you so damn bad,” Jared rumbled, his hands roaming over Jensen's body, curious, almost worshipful. Jensen was caught between a laugh at the caveman dialogue and a cry as his heart clenched at the tender way Jared mapped his body. All he wanted was more, more as he writhed under the touches. Jared shifted so their cocks rubbed against one another with delicious friction. Jensen's teeth caught at his bottom lip, pleasure unfurling in his gut.

“Wait!” Jared cried out. His long arm snaked out to a side table drawer and pulled out a clear bottle. Jensen barely suppressed a moan of dismay at the loss of contact.

“I gotcha,” Jared whispered, leaning in for another lingering kiss. There was a squelch of lube, and Jared’s hand wrapped around Jensen's cock, working him to hardness. He shifted, gripping them both in one large hand. Jensen shuddered as Jared began to jerk them both at once, silk against silk, squeezing them as his thumb swiped over the sensitive heads.

“Fuck me!” Jensen gasped as he rutted into Jared’s hand.

Jared laughed, continuing to jack them rhythmically. “I intend to, sweetheart, I intend to.” Pleasure spiraling, Jensen thought he would gladly die this way, forever rising, blissed out in Jared’s hold. Then he arched back, crying out soundlessly as his orgasm ripped through him, falling, plunging from a great height as he pulsed white over Jared’s hand and belly. He shivered in pleasured aftermath, biting down on his lip to muffle his cries. Jared nudged at his cheek and murmured, “No, baby, let me hear it all.”

A few more strokes and Jared came with a strangled cry, their seed mixing together in a wet pool on their bellies. Jared released them both, and they lay there, their breath the only thing filling the room. Humming tunelessly, Jared rolled onto his side, lazily rubbing their cooling slick into the silky skin of Jensen’s still twitching belly.

Panting, Jensen shuddered. “You’re killing me here, you know that, right?”

“Just wanted to get you ready for round two. That is, if you’re okay?” Jared murmured innocently as he latched lazily onto the nipple closest to his mouth. Jensen groaned and writhed as Jared sucked and nipped at the sensitive bud, his hands buried in the soft strands of Jared’s hair. Jared chuckled against Jensen’s skin as he slipped a slick-covered hand around to rub along Jensen’s crease.

With a yelp of surprise Jensen bucked forward, his hole tightening reflexively against the sensation. Crimson-faced, he tried to still his wriggling body. Jared peered impishly through his curtain of hair before he switched his attentions to Jensen’s other nipple. His fingers started to slide rhythmically back and forth over Jensen’s furled entrance. Jensen groaned and pushed back against Jared’s teasing digits.

“You’re a bastard. You know that, right?” Jensen ground out, eyes closed as he lost himself to sensation.

Jared let go of Jensen’s pert bud with a wet smack of his lips and tutted at him, “No need for name calling—unless it's ‘Fantastic Beast’ or ‘Awesome Orgasm Bringer’—I’d be okay with those.”

Jensen barked out a laugh, and squirmed, almost climbing out of his skin as Jared’s long finger teased at his insides. Jensen groaned again. “And if you’re not going to play nice,” Jared continued, as his finger plunged deeper and deeper inside Jensen’s hole, “I might just have to find someone else to play with.”

“That easy, eh?” Jensen panted.

“Only for someone as devastatingly handsome as me.”

There was a chill touch of lubed fingers at his entrance. Jensen wondered how many hands Jared had because he seemed to be everywhere, his tongue licking over Jensen’s nipples, his other hand digging into the cut of his hip. The two fingers returned to press in further, and he could only moan as those digits touched that sparking place inside him. Jensen’s cock had struggled to rise so soon after the last round, but with the continued pressure he felt himself begin to stir.

“Hmmm, turns out you’re in luck. I don’t have the energy to go somewhere else.” Jensen could hear the smile in Jared’s voice.

“So I guess you’re stuck with me, then,” Jensen huffed, breathless, as he closed his eyes and spread his legs wider. Jared settled between them.

Jared’s large, sinful hands cradled his face. He nipped at Jensen’s bottom lip, his expression dark with concern. “Ghosts gone?”

“All gone, I promise,” Jensen whispered.

Jensen heard the distinctive snap of a condom and Jared’s dark chuckle. “Good, ‘cause I don’t like to share. Now touch yourself,” Jared ordered.

Jensen whined as he wrapped his hand around his cock and started to jack himself. “It’s—it’s been a while,” he whispered, embarrassed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be sure you see stars.” Jared replied enigmatically, his cock nudging at Jensen’s entrance.

Jensen had a strange feeling of deja vu as Jared spoke, soon swept aside as he pushed into him.

And in the end he didn’t have to worry. There were stars enough for both of them.

Something was beeping.

Jensen swung an arm at his alarm clock, but only hit air. He tried again, same results. The beeping persisted. Grumbling, he grabbed at a pillow and buried his head under it. “Stop beeping,” he growled.

“Whoa, sorry, that’s me,” a voice spoke over the cursed beeping and sounds of someone fumbling on the other side of the bed. The godawful noise stopped and Jensen relaxed back into the decadently comfortable bed. It was an embarrassingly long time before his brain kicked into gear enough to recognize the voice. He groaned. Did he just sleep with the biggest investor to darken their door ever? Jim was going to kill him. He slowly pulled the pillow away from his face and rolled onto his back, blinking.

Jared, swallowing down a piece of toast, phone in hand, was already fully dressed in a dark grey suit and tie, his still shower-damp hair curling slightly at his neck, still as devastatingly handsome in daylight as he had been last night. Jensen blinked again. Then he watched as Jared flipped through his messages and pocketed his phone.

“Morning, Sunshine!” Jared smiled as he sat down on the edge of the bed, eyes crinkled with laughter when he caught a look at Jensen’s face. “Oh, so, not a morning person, eh? Note to self.”

“Normally I am,” Jensen grumbled, “Just, not so much today.” He squinted, glanced around for a clock, something to tell him the time. “Did I oversleep?”

Jared grinned at him with a lopsided grin. “Yes and no. There’s a change of plans. I had to cancel our session today.” At Jensen’s worried look he hastily added, “I’ve already called Jim. Nothing we can’t deal with and be back at tomorrow.”

Jensen pushed himself up to sitting and tried to kick his brain into gear. “Are you sure?” he asked, licking his lips. “This has nothing to do with…” _us?_

Jared’s hand cupped his face gently and leaned in for a kiss. “No, no, no. You have my word,” he breathed just before his lips covered Jensen’s.

Jensen’s eyelids fluttered shut as he sank into the kiss. Jared’s tongue laved the inside of his mouth, sucking and licking at his lips until they were swollen and aching. He pulled back, and Jensen smiled into the kiss as he licked the crumbs of toast off the corners of Jared's mouth, his normal morning wood thickening under Jared’s attention. He groaned and pulled Jared in closer.

“I’m sorry.” Jared’s voice was husky and dark with desire when they finally broke apart. “But I really have to go.” His thumb swept over Jensen’s lip and pressed inside before he straightened reluctantly. “Shower’s there, coffee’s brewing in the kitchen. Housekeeping brought up breakfast. Help yourself. I’m pretty sure I’ll be hip deep in this tonight, but I’ll see you tomorrow, ‘kay?” He leaned in for another quick kiss.

“Okay,” Jensen answered, dazed at the sudden turn of events. “Later!” He raised his hand to wave, but Jared was already gone.

He lay in bed, not quite willing to get up, but unable to fall back asleep. He watched the curtain shift in the breeze. Last night had been amazing. Probably the best sex Jensen had ever had. He wriggled happily on the bed, his hands running over the lux, million thread count sheets, and grinned. He’d actually been pretty good, too, if he did say so himself.

— _“Hey Jay, how about this one? You know how your back is,” Jared teased as he and Jensen shopped for new furniture, Jensen’s hand in his. He mused out loud, to the embarrassment of both Jensen and their sales person, if there was a size bigger than king, or if their new master bedroom could hold two kings._

  
Jensen grinned, ridiculously happy, and bounded out of bed. Maybe there really was something more than flirting between them. And Jared was in San Antonio often, so who knew where this could lead? And if he invested in ARM…. Jensen laughed as a whole world of possibilities started to open up in front of him. This might just be a total home run. Today was going to be a good day.

  
One shower, complete with jerking himself off over one unnamed oil tycoon, and three cups of coffee later, Jensen felt like his mind was finally online again. He rooted through his discarded clothing that Jared had solicitously laid across the arm of the sofa and came up with his phone.

“Jim, I just wanted to check in.”

“What the hell is going on, Jensen? And where the Sam Hill are you? I’ve been calling you all morning. Welling arrived at the office first thing this morning with a hostile takeover bid.”

“He what?”

“Yeah, Welling, smug Piece Of Shit. And I’m left here with my boys swinging in the breeze, my founder AWOL. Thank God Padalecki took a powder for today, it gives us some time to get our ducks in a row with the Board. I don’t want Padalecki scared off. If we survive this, we’ll definitely need his help.” Jim swore, “And I say again, where are you?”

“Umm, I’m at my apartment. Padalecki and I tied one on last night. I don’t remember much.”

“You got drunk with our potential prime investor?” Jensen had to hold the phone away from his ear, Jim was yelling so loud. “What the hell are you thinking, Jensen? Or are you thinking at all?”

“Jim, please, calm down, nothing bad happened. And what do you mean ‘If’? There’s no way in hell we’re letting that bastard take over our company.”

“We may not have much of a choice, Jensen.”

“What? What do you mean by that?” Jensen could hear his own voice rising.

“Just get your ass over here. There’s some things I need to tell you.”

  
Jensen pounded his fist on Jim's desk. “What do you mean, we’re broke? What about my patent for early onset tremor treatment, or the one for improved prosthetics motion signaling? Not to mention the rollout of the neural amplifiers, for Christ’s sake!”

“They’re doing great and making money—just not enough. We’re burning through it faster than you can make it right now, especially with the neural amplifiers. The build out and training to get those to market is killing us. But once—IF—we can get it to market, we’ll be rolling in so much cash, none of this will matter. That’s why Padalecki as a backer is such a win.”

“Jesus, Jim, what do we do? I already sold controlling interest of the company to raise enough capital to keep us going the last few years. I thought my remaining 31% share was enough to ward off this kind of thing.” Jensen paced back and forth in front of the windows in Jim’s office. “I’ve got nothing left. If the Board, especially Sheppard, gets wind of this—and if Welling has bought up enough stock—“ Jensen’s mouth grew dry. “A better offer from Welling Capital, and we’re sunk. He’ll sell us out in a minute. Pileggi and Wisdom won’t be far behind him if they smell a big cash bonus. I swear, I’m not sure whose side some of Dad’s old board members were on. And does anyone have a goddamn aspirin? My head is killing me.”

Jim yanked open a drawer and slammed a bottle of bourbon on his desk, followed by equally harsh slams of two glasses and a bottle of aspirin. “Here’s your goddamn aspirin. You picked one hell of a time to tie one on.”

Jim shook his head and poured them each three fingers of the bourbon. Jensen had never seen Jim this upset, even after the accident. Wordlessly, he grabbed the pill bottle and chased a couple of tablets with the alcohol. He grimaced as the fiery liquid made its way down, but felt more alert for it afterward.

Jim edged his wheelchair out from his desk and took his drink over to the window, gazing out pensively. “I was hoping with just a bit of luck we’d be able to keep all the balls in the air, quietly get someone like Padalecki on the Board and head to the finish line. Welling’s famous for smelling blood in the water.” Jim shook his head wearily. “He’s pushing to present an offer tomorrow when the Board meets. That bastard’s timing couldn't be any worse for us.”

Jensen stared at his uncle in despair. “I don’t know what else we can do. I should have known something was up when we ran into him last night.”

“What, you saw Tom Welling and didn’t tell me?”

“It was at a club, I kind of didn’t think anything of it. I should have, though. I’m an idiot. He even said he’d be seeing me.” Jensen felt his bile rise. “This is all my fault. He’s targeting me. Still after me, after all these years.”

“Bullshit, ya idjit. It’s me that needs a lesson in economics. I should have talked to you, warned you we were extended too far. This is on me, son.” Jim reached out and squeezed Jensen’s arm. “Don’t let the bastard get to you. We’ll get through this somehow. Let me make some calls, feel out some of the board members.”

Jensen dropped his lab coat over his chair and slumped into it, his mind a complete blank; he didn’t have a clue what he could do to stop Welling. If Tom got control of the company, it was over. He’d have to leave, he couldn’t work for the man. He had a clause in his contract extending his job with the company for one year if the new management wanted him, but he’d just have to try and fight it in court or pay Tom some kind of penalty. He wouldn’t be able to stay anywhere near the man. In sheer self-preservation, Jensen switched lines of thinking. If it really was all over, what could he take with him? What was there that Tom couldn’t legitimately lay his hands on? A cold, hard pit of resolve grew inside him. He knew what he had to do.

  
“Wow, someone got lucky last night.”

Danneel’s voice jolted him out of his thoughts. “What?” he said numbly.

“You silly, you’re still in the same clothes you wore last night. You must have had a good time?”

Danneel came around his desk so she could see his face. She paled when she saw him. “Jensen, what’s wrong? What’s happened?”

“Danni, there’s a chance, a very good chance, that Welling Capital is going to make a hostile takeover bid for ARM. I can’t—I can’t do anything about the programs we’ve got rolling out. He’ll own those —”

Danneel gasped.

“But I can’t let him have my research. I wanted regular people to have access to it when it’s complete. He’d—he’d never do that. Danni, it would be ugly, available only to the highest bidder. We have to make sure it’s safe. He can’t lay his hands on it.”

“Jensen, you’re scaring me.”

“Our security is still in place, right? Complete separation of my work from the rest of ARM? ”

Danneel nodded quickly.

“So separate servers and our own firewall?”

Danni nodded again and swore under her breath. “Tom… Jesus, Jensen, I’m so sorry. What he did….”

“We can be sorry later, Danni, we need to move now. I don’t know how soon they’ll move in.”

“There’s not even a chance?...” Danneel trailed off, tears glittering in the corners of her eyes.”

“Jim’s trying to pretend there is, but we’re vulnerable. And I don’t have the money this time, I can’t save us,” Jensen confessed with a dismal shake of his head. “He’ll have us bought within the week. And by next week he’ll be tearing this place apart and selling each part off to the highest bidder. We need to move my work out of here.”

“Okay, so what should we do? We can pull the drives, hell, we can move the whole server out of the building, you paid for it with your own money. I can remove the drives in all the computers in this room, wipe them, and replace them with copies of the drives for the launch program. That wouldn’t be unusual at all. It’s the company’s big focus, and you’d been working on it. Shit.” Danneel shook her head, looking around at the lab and all the computers in it. “This is a lot of work. I should call Osric. He’ll be able to help.”

“No, keep Osric out of it.”

Danneel looked at Jensen in shock. “Jensen, you don’t think—?”

“No, Osric’s loyal to a fault, but he can’t lie for squat. I want him to be able to truthfully tell Welling that was everything. He doesn’t really know what I’m up to down here, and I want to keep it that way. He thinks I do my testing here so it will be independently verifiable. No need to dissuade him of that theory.”

“Oh, oh.” Danneel paced back and forth nibbling on her scarlet fingernails. "Okay, it’ll be tight, and I’ll definitely need your help, but I think I can get it done by late tonight sometime, early morning more likely. You’ll need to rent a van and find a place to store all this. It needs to be a temperature-controlled environment, the equipment's delicate.”

Jensen pulled Danneel into a hug and kissed her cheek. “Danni, you’re a lifesaver, tell me what I need to do.”

  
It was more work than Jensen would have thought possible. He rented a storage locker under a family friend’s name; no one would think of asking Jeffrey Dean Morgan, his dad’s former chauffeur, why he’d rented a storage locker. It had been more than ten years since JD had worked for the company. Morgan also kindly supplied the truck and his help to move the equipment.

“Hey kid,” JD said over the phone, “you don’t have to tell me a thing. I’ll be there at four am, I hope you'll be ready for me. And don’t worry, I know the kind of world your dad lived in. The knives could be out in seconds.” JD chuckled darkly. “I’ll help you with whatever you need.”

Jensen could almost see JD's smile, his whiskey-dark voice reminding Jensen of home. “Idris says hi, by the way. He’s working on a new custom bike design. It’s a beaut, Jay. You’d love it.”

“Say hi to him for me. I’m sorry I haven’t been around more, I’ve just been kinda caught up in stuff. I’d love to see what you guys have been up to; he’s a great designer.

“He surely is. Just don’t tell him, his head’s pretty big already, barely fits in our bed.” Jensen could hear Idris grumble in the background and JD’s mischievous laugh. “See you at four, son.”

“Later, JD. And I appreciate this, seriously.”

“I know, Jay. It’s okay. What’re friends for?”

Jensen went back to stripping files off the test machine he'd been working on and loading the launch neural enhancer profiles in their place. Once the last machine was stripped down and reloaded, they concentrated on physical equipment, boxing up sensor arrays and his infamous neural cap, along with a multitude of other things, including the three computer stations Jensen had purchased out of his own pocket. Danneel wheeled in replacement machines from inventory. She even went so far as to go to the neural enhancer lab, copying over the testing protocols and setting up the new machines to run them in Jensen’s lab. If anyone checked, he was doing independent checking and analysis of all the hardware and software of the launch. Nothing more. Good independent verification protocol. Welling might be suspicious, but it was totally by the books.

At four o’clock sharp, Jensen heard a soft knock on the warehouse bay door. For the tenth time that night he thanked his lucky stars he had set up in the isolated warehouse bay rather than the extra training lab. JD greeted him with a wry grin and a strong bear hug. As soon as he let go, Idris pushed past JD to give him an equally rib-cracking hug. “Missed you son.” Idris, JD's partner of twenty years and husband for five, looked Jensen up and down, still dressed in his rumpled going-out clothes. “You dress up for us?” A broad smile filled his face, and then his expression sobered. “You’ve lost weight.” He glanced sharply at Danneel, “Danni! Good to see you, girl. He’s not taking care of himself, now is he?”

“Don’t blame me. He doesn’t listen.” Danneel shrugged as she rolled a bank of hard drives onto the loading bay.

“Ah, we know.” JD slapped Jensen on the back. “He don’t listen to anyone but his own self, ain’t that right, Jay? Now what here’s heavy that you want us to move?”

“Oh, I got ya covered on that one. I think you’ll need all three of you guys to move this.”  
Danneel led them to the main server.

Two hours later the sun peeked over the horizon. Idris and JD were about to set out, the tarp-covered truck bed groaning with equipment. Jensen leaned on the passenger side door of the truck. “And you’re sure you don’t want me to come with you? Help you unload?”

“Nah.” Through the open window, Idris handwaved his offer away. “The less you’re involved, the better. No video of you stashing anything. And we can get Ash to help us unload it at the storage locker. He won’t ask any questions as to how JD and I sprouted a need for such fancy hardware for our little custom bike shop.” Idris laughed, a deep rich sound that warmed Jensen to the bone.

“Don’t worry, Slick. We got this. You go change out of them party duds and catch some z’s. You two look like you could use it.” JD gave them both a parting hug and walked around to the driver’s side.

“Drive safe.” Jensen pounded twice on the side of the truck as the men drove away.  
He turned to Danneel, who looked completely exhausted. “I think maybe you should call in sick tomorrow. Today.”

“Ya think?” Danneel gave a jaw-cracking yawn. “Hey, give you a ride home? It’s on the way.”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind. I don’t really want a record of me calling a cab here in the middle of the night.”

“It’s morning, Jensen.” Danneel replied flatly, side-eyeing him. They both burst out laughing.

Jensen glanced at his phone’s clock as he walked through the door of his apartment. It was going to be close, but he could just shower, change, and be back at work in time for his meeting with the Board—then hopefully make it out alive and in one piece to meet with Jared’s team later that afternoon. He felt guilty not giving Jared some kind of heads up as to the trouble they were heading into, but really what could the man do? He had just dropped by as an investor and, maybe, prospective second date. It was funny how a mere 24 hours could change his mind about the man. Something good might still come out of all this, but with Jensen’s batting average so far, he was doubtful.

He thought about his meeting with Jim at the end of the workday.

_Jensen knocked lightly on Beaver’s office door. Stella had already gone home for the day, and the sun was setting low in the sky, “Come in, son,” Jim called out from his desk._

_“Hey Jim, how goes it? Any good news?”_

_Jim rocked his wheelchair back and forth in agitation before answering. “Jensen, I don’t know what to say. I let you down, boy. All the news I have is bad.”_

_“What happened?” _

_Jim rubbed his hand through his thinning hair. “I got nowhere with the Board, other than the usual suspects. Richings, Omundson, Williams, even Huffman, are all firmly on our side, but I got nowhere with the rest of ‘em. I think Welling’s bought half of them off. Either that, or they’re already counting their bonus checks if he takes over. None of the rest would even take my calls._

_“Richings did tell me something interesting. Last board meeting, Sheppard was looking into how much available stock we had out there, if we could do a stock buyback. Richings said the report came in just last week, and most of our stock is held in various numbered trusts. We don’t even know who owns 50% of our company at this point.”_

_“Is that normal?”_

_Jim scratched his head, “Well, no, not really for a company our size. Usually we’re considered pretty small fry. Makes me think Welling might have been planning this for a long time. If he has control of that much of our stock, and we’re over-leveraged as it is, we don’t stand a chance in hell if he makes a hostile takeover bid.” _

_“Don’t I have some leverage in this?”_

_“You might've if you still had a clear majority of the stock, but when you sold off that 10%, it left us vulnerable.” Jim shook his head and reached in his desk drawer for the bourbon again and poured a couple of fingers’ worth in each glass. Exhausted, Jensen took his gratefully. _

_“Jim, don’t beat yourself up. We’ve been a little backwater development company for so long, who knew we’d ever raise any interest with anything, let alone the local paper?”_

_“But that’s where you’re wrong, Jensen. We’re sitting on a powder keg. ARM is poised to be one of the most influential companies in the world in the next twelve months. Of course we’d have the sharks like Welling circling. I should have seen this coming, damnit!” Jim slammed his fist on his desk. “I’m a stupid old fool.”_

_“No, not at all. You’re one of the sharpest men I know. So what’s our play?”_

_“We meet with the Board at 10:00 and see if Welling makes a move. If he does, let’s hope you have enough shares to kill the deal. Then we meet with Padalecki at 1:00 and get our funding and live to fight another day.”_

_“Let’s hope that’s just how it plays out.” Jensen touched his glass against Jim’s in a silent toast and tried to feel more positive than he was._   
  


¤ ¤ ¤

^^ Comments always appreciated |


	4. The Takeover

Jensen pulled into his parking spot at ARM the next morning and was instantly surrounded by reporters. With a grimace he turned off the Impala’s engine. He hated dealing with the press, still gunshy after all the attention the accident had drawn. He debated driving back out and sneaking in the back entrance, but decided against it. He’d hold his head high and get through this.  


“— Mr. Ackles! Mr. Ackles! Is it true? is your company warding off a hostile takeover?” A multitude of iPhones and television mics were shoved in his face as he eased his way out the car door and grabbed his bag.

“— Is Welling Industries behind this?”

“— Is Padalecki Industries also involved? Care to comment?”

“— What will this mean for you Mr. Ackles?”

Jensen stared at the reporter who asked the last question, stalling for time. He was a little spooked by the sheer number of them, at least ten, some with video cameras, for God’s sake. He took a calming breath. He’d freaked out enough in the last few days. He could do this. “And you are?” Jensen hoped his voice didn’t quaver.

“Sara Mason, Bloomberg Markets.”

Jensen mentally whistled. Bloomberg had wind of this? Welling must have leaked the news. Tom always did like to be the center of attention.

“Sorry, Sara, no comment at this time.”

“— Mr Ackles, Mr. Ackles! Sir, is it true you and Tom Welling were friends at college?” a male reporter with the logo of a major paper on his mic shouted out.

Jensen only shook his head and shouldered through the crowd. He wondered how deep their background reporting was going to go. Jesus, this had the potential to be a mess. “As I said, no comment. Sorry folks, I’m late for a meeting.”

“— Mr. Ackles!...” More shouting, as Jensen sprinted across the parking lot and climbed the steps two at a time to ARM’s main entrance, the media mob trailing behind him. Thankfully, Tiny met him at the door and closed it firmly behind him, keeping the reporters outside. “Sorry, folks, you’ll have to direct your questions to our PR representative, Lauren Tom. She’ll answer your questions if she’s able."

  
  
Jensen dashed up the steps to Jim’s second story office. Wary of a repeat performance, he paused at Stella’s desk, “The old man alone?”

“You betcha, honey. Go right in, he’s expecting you.”

Jim sat by the plate glass window that ran floor to ceiling along one side of his office. “Quite the sideshow.”

Jensen raked his hand through his hair in agitation. “Crazy. You go through that, too?”

“No, Tiny gave me the heads up. I came in the warehouse entrance. Stella tried to get you, but it just kept going to voicemail.”

Jensen’s brow wrinkled. “Seriously? But I—” Then he glanced at his phone, which was out of power. He’d forgotten to recharge it during last night’s mission. “Damn it. I forgot to recharge it. Sorry. May I?”

Jim handwaved permission, “Right-hand drawer,” he said dryly.

Cursing his own stupidity, Jensen plugged in his phone and dropped it on the desktop to reach minimum restart levels. He wondered what else he’d missed.

“So the Board knows about this?” Jensen glanced over at Jim, who wheeled his chair over to the sideboard to pour himself a coffee.

“Yeah, Lauren called ‘em all. They’ll come in same way as me. You want?” Jim held up a cup of coffee.

“Oh, hell yes.” Jensen strode over and swallowed the whole cup down.

“Easy, son, you gotta pace yourself. Stuff like this is going to be flying all day.”

“The idea of this company in Tom’s grubby paws just makes me sick. I’ll have to leave.” Jensen’s gut twisted at the thought. He leaned against the sideboard, both hands grasping the wood top, and tried to control his breathing.

Jim’s hand grasped his shoulder and squeezed. “I know, son. I know. I hope it doesn’t come to that.” Jim tugged at his beard nervously, “Now I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I do have at least one trick up my sleeve.”

Jensen glanced over at Jim, “Really? Let’s hear it.”

  
  
Time flew, and then it was nearing ten o’clock, and board members were starting to arrive. As an afterthought, Jensen snatched up his recharged phone. A quick glance told him he had five missed calls from Jared last night and three voicemails. He wondered what was so urgent that Jared would call so many times. He stared at the call log guiltily. He’d have to listen to them later. Board members were filing in. He and Jim moved to the large boardroom where they’d hosted the Padalecki pitch and greeted the members already there.

Julian Richings, one of their longest-serving board members and a close friend of his dad, gazed into Jensen’s eyes for the longest time. “You know, Jensen, I’ll do everything in my power to keep this company in your family’s control.”

“I appreciate it, Julian. I really do.”

Mark Sheppard, unsurprisingly, was the last to arrive. “Beautiful day out there, gentlemen,” he crooned in his thick British accent. The man had lived in America for thirty years but still spoke like a Londoner. “A good day to finally make some real money. Jensen, my boy, you must be excited. We could get you a very healthy research budget now. Jim—maybe you can even retire and get that cabin by the lake you always wanted.”

Jim side-eyed Sheppard and grumbled, “Not likely. I can’t see my wheels stuck in the mud somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. I like it fine right where I am.”

“Yes, well, what we like and what we get can be two separate things, now can't they, darling?” Sheppard smiled coolly and took his place at the head of the table. “I now call this meeting of the ARM Board to order.”

“I would like to introduce an emergency motion before the Board. We have been served with a hostile takeover bid. As many of you know, Tom Welling is in the process of buying out Ackles Research in Motion. He is offering eighteen dollars a share, which is five dollars over our current market share value. If successful, he will be the new owner of ARM.” Sheppard’s shark-like grin spoke to which side of the offer he was on.

“Further, to ease the transition and welcome us into Welling Industries’ larger pharmaceutical empire, Mr. Welling has asked to speak to the Board.” Murmurs and shocked gasps were heard around the room. Sheppard’s grin widened further. “He is waiting outside.”

“No!” Jensen stood. There was no way he could sit here and watch Welling connive his way into his company.

“All in favour of hearing what our potential new owner wants to say?”

As expected, Sheppard’s Group of Seven—Sheppard, Stuart, Heyerdahl, Pileggi, Stuart, Wisdom and Fuller—carried the vote.

Jim grasped Jensen’s arm hard. “Easy. Keep your powder dry, son.”

Sheppard stabbed at the phone's intercom. “Stella, would you please show Mr. Welling in.”

  
  
Tom entered the room, looking sleek and expensive in a silver-grey Brioni suit that highlighted the streaks of silver at his temples. His piercing blue gaze panned over the room and settled on Jensen like a shark eyeing a particularly tasty snack.

“Thank you, Mark, members of the Board, Jensen.” Tom nodded at Jensen, his gaze lingering on him so long that Jensen glanced away. When he looked back, Welling was smiling in victory, “Thank you for allowing me to talk with you.” Welling strolled casually around the table, physically staking his claim on the company as surely as he was financially. Jensen’s gorge rose again.

“I know this is a little unexpected, but I for one would like to take the ‘hostile’ out of this takeover. I don’t see any reason why this can’t be a good thing, a great thing, for both our companies.” Welling beamed. Anyone who did not know him would only see his good looks and boyish charm. Jensen, however, knew better. “It’s no secret that in spite of our dear Jensen’s uncontested brilliance, the company has been underfunded and losing money. I—” Welling paused dramatically behind Jensen’s chair before moving on. “Well, I can help with that. And it’s also no secret that you board members haven’t been compensated for your valuable time as much as you should be. I can fix that, too. And with the additional funding I intend to sink into ARM, the rollout of all Jensen’s various inventions, present and future, should go more easily, less stress on everybody.” Welling literally beamed at the Board. Jensen fumed silently.

“And in this utopian world of yours, who owns the patent for all Jensen’s work?” Jim spoke up abruptly, interrupting Welling’s well-oiled speech.

“Welling Industries, of course, Mr. Beaver, we’d own all of ARM’s assets.” Tom arched a condescending brow at Jim.

“That would be a negatory there, Mr. Wall Street. All of Jensen’s patents remained under his name alone. He leased them to ARM on a yearly basis, the anniversary of which is about to come due next month, I believe.” Jim leaned back in his chair, a satisfied gleam in his eyes.

“That may be true, but what good are those patents without the money to develop them? And I believe that annual lease only applied to Jensen’s earlier work when he wasn’t employed full time by ARM. After that, his inventions are the property of ARM. But, whatever the technicalities, we are willing to be flexible. We want to keep our resident genius happy, don’t we?” Tom directed his plastic grin toward Jensen, who grimaced in disgust.

Approving murmurs sounded around the room. Deflated, Jim glanced at Jensen and mouthed ‘Sorry, son.’ That had been their best shot against the takeover. Welling had steamrolled right over it.

“Basically, with Welling Industries in charge, we’d like to keep almost everything exactly as it is now. Maybe a new manager or two, but that’s about it. I think probably the biggest change Welling Industries would like to implement is the replacement of Jim Beaver as CEO with a new candidate, David Haydn-Jones. He’s worked out brilliantly at several of our other locations and would be a great fit for ARM. But we can get into that once our bid goes through.”

Jim groaned. Haydn-Jones was one of Welling’s most prized hatchet men. He was famous for going into a company and chopping out all the staff loyal to the previous owners, installing Welling-approved acolytes in their place. Jensen glanced at Jim, bewildered, unfamiliar with the name. Jim could only shake his head.

“I won’t work for you.” Jensen spoke up suddenly, ruining Tom’s dramatic pause.

“Sure you will, Jenny. You’re mine for one whole year after new management—” Tom pointed at himself dramatically, “Me—takes over. It’s written in bold right there in your contract.’

Jensen gritted his teeth. “I’ll fight it.”

Tom laughed—threw back his head and laughed, the booming sound of it filling the boardroom. Then he stalked toward Jensen and half-cheeked it on the table next to him, a wide predatory smile on his face. “You’ll lose. And while you’re wasting your time with that, I’ll track down each and every one of your friends in this company and fire them all. I’ll send them packing with no recommendation. And I’ll make sure none of them ever work in their field again. So you better think twice on that one, Jenny.” Tom leaned threateningly over Jensen and whispered, “I own your ass.”

Tom rose and continued to pace around the table. “Now where was I? Oh yes, and what we would also like to see—” Raised voices in the lobby interrupted Welling. Everyone stared at the closed, frosted glass doors of the conference room.

“Sir, sir, there is a private board meeting in session. Your meeting isn’t until 1:00.” An agitated Stella’s voice could be heard outside. “You can’t go in there, sir. I’ll have to call security—”

The doors burst open, and Jared Padalecki strode into the room. A flustered Stella trailed after him, as did two of Padalecki’s assistants with large rolling briefcases. Like Welling, Jared took in the room, his gaze landing on Jensen. Unlike Welling, Jared didn’t smile or leer. He was all business in his blue Givenchy suit. “Mr. Ackles.” He nodded at Jensen, acknowledging him before the Board as an equal in business. Jensen nodded back mutely.

“Sorry to interrupt your meeting, gentlemen. Ma’am.” Jensen smiled briefly at Alaina Huffman. “But I thought I would save you all the time and bother of considering Welling Industries' attempted takeover. It is doomed to fail.”

The board members erupted in questions. Sheppard slammed his fist down. “Order! I say, order. Who is this?”

“Jared Padalecki, Padalecki Industries. And you are?” The curt smile on Jared’s face didn’t reach his eyes.

Sheppard sputtered and turned an interesting shade of red. “Mark Sheppard, Chairman of the Board of Directors.”

Jared smiled and clasped his hands behind his back. “Excellent. Well, Mr. Sheppard, we have been speaking with both Mr. Beaver and Mr. Ackles about your impressive new product launch. We had been considering lending your company money for that launch, but with vulture capital companies hovering and the vulnerable financial situation you’re in, we think the safest possible response to safeguard our considerable investment in ARM is to take over the Board.”

“But, Mr. Padalecki—as you well know, you need a controlling interest in the company to—to redirect the Board and ARM’s activities. Don’t waste our time, sir,” Sheppard blustered. “We have serious business to attend to.”

“Stella.” Sheppard waved his hand imperiously at Jim’s secretary, who stood motionless inside the doorway. “Please call Tiny—the police if you have to—but have this man removed immediately.”

Unfazed, Jared strolled to the glass wall overlooking the front of the building and the media frenzy building below. “You see, unlike Welling Industries, our bid is already in place. We already own a controlling interest in ARM. We just had yet to exercise that control.”

“What bloody garbage are you spewing, Padalecki? There’s no one controlling a majority of our stock.”

“Actually, there is. Me.”

Jensen sat there, stunned.

Jared turned and gestured to one of his assistants, who snapped open their large legal briefcase on cue. “Tyler, if you could hand out the documents.”

The young blonde assistant circled the table, handing out a report detailing ARM stock purchases over the last ten years.

“Since ARM's inception, Padalecki Industries has been buying up open stock under a variety of our trusts and representatives. With Mr. Ackles' recent stock sell-off a year ago, we gained a controlling interest of 52% of ARM shares. We now choose to exercise our rights as a majority shareholder and take control of the Board. We would also like to formally reject the Welling Industries bid of $18 a share. Our shares are not for sale, today or in the foreseeable future.”

Jared turned and looked at Tom, who was frantically paging his way through a copy of the ARM stock document. “Nice of you to drop by, Tom, but you can go now.”  
  
“No, this can’t be,” Welling muttered.

  
Welling slapped the report against his thigh. “This isn’t over, Padalecki. We’ll be seeing you.” Head high, he stormed out of the boardroom, two bright spots of red on his cheeks the only sign of stress on his smooth features.

As Welling reached the door, Tiny opened it. “Sirs, you called for me?”

Julian Richings spoke up for the first time during the meeting, “Yes, Tiny, if you could show this—” Julian glanced over at Welling, his lips curled in disgust, “—gentleman— to the door? Thank you.”

Without another word, Welling shouldered his way past Tiny. Unperturbed, the large security guard nodded and turned immediately to followed him. A hint of a smile appeared on Julian’s face as he gazed around the room. “Well done,” he murmured to no one in particular.

Meanwhile, at the head of the table, Sheppard was tearing through the document, snapping pages back and forth, the red flush on his face increasing with every page turn. “No, no, no, no, no! How could we not have known about this?!” he screamed.

Jensen sat there, completely numb as he watched the proceedings. The sounds around him seemed to deaden. Jim pounded his fist on Jensen’s knee in excitement. “Well, color me surprised, there is a Santa Claus!” he whispered in glee, but he sounded like he was miles away.

His heart jackhammering in his chest, Jensen licked his lips and tried to focus on his breathing, his thoughts scattered in a thousand directions. Had he just replaced one betrayer with another? Was that why Jared had slept with him last night, to sweeten the whole ‘Oh, I already own your company’ reveal? He tugged uselessly at his tie. He needed air. He needed space. He needed time to think.

“As the major shareholder in the company, I would like to formally dissolve the Board. I would also appoint Timothy Omundson, Steven Williams, Alaina Huffman, and Julian Richings as members of the new Board, effective immediately.” Jared walked over to Julian. “And Mr. Richings, if you would be so kind as to take over as Chairman of the Board?”

“It would be my distinct pleasure, Mr. Padalecki,” Julian replied as he stood to shake Jared’s hand, a huge, uncharacteristic grin filling his face.

Jared glanced at his other assistant. “Kara, could you hand out the severance packages to our departing board members, please?” Steely-eyed, Jared stared at each of the departing members before he strolled over to gaze out the window, casually loosening his tie. “You’ll find them more than generous. Please note that your nondisclosure clauses are all still in effect. We will prosecute vigorously if we find that any news of the coming launch has been leaked to the media or our competitors.”

Jared turned, his vulpine features cast in shadow as he stood before the sunlit panes. He looked every inch the ruthless wolf, the son of big business that he was. Jensen cursed himself again for being a naïve fool to think, even briefly, that an association with the business class could end in anything but disappointment.

“I suggest to the new Board that we adjourn this meeting and return at 1:00 for further discussions.”

Everyone started to rise. Jim squeezed his hand excitedly as Jensen haltingly stood. He still couldn’t hear what everyone was saying, and his vision was going dark at the edges.

_“You thought you could get away from me, didn’t you?” Bright blue eyes stared down at him. “But I showed you. I’ll always be one step ahead of you. You’re mine. And I always keep what’s mine.” A dark, mocking laugh twisted Jensen’s stomach.”_

  
  
Jensen swallowed, hard. He needed to leave _now, now, now…_

Without a backward glance he walked toward the boardroom doors. He could faintly hear Jim. “Jensen, son, where are you going?” The doors swung wide, and the cooler air of the outer office hit his face like a balm. He walked faster, down the main steps toward the front doors. He had to stop himself from breaking into a run.

As he glanced outside, he skidded to an abrupt halt. A huge crowd of reporters was still outside, holding vigil. Then he realized that their attention wasn’t on the front doors, but off to the side, where Welling was holding an impromptu presser. No one was looking at the front door.

Jensen reached the front door just as two women were leaving the building. He slipped in behind them until they got to the parking lot, where he made a dash for his car.

He was so close to being free. He slid behind the wheel and jabbed the key in the ignition, but the Impala wouldn’t start. He tried again, pumping the gas, but no joy. _NoNoNoNoNO.._Maybe he’d flooded her in his rush to escape, _Pleasebabyplease, pleaseplese please not you too. I need you on my side._ He counted to ten, swiping away nervous sweat to clear his eyes. He gave the key another turn, and she rumbled to life. _Thank you, Lord!_He was backing out when two large hands slapped against the hood of the car.

Jensen startled and peered out the front window. Jared stood there, hair blowing in the wind, towering like a Norse god. He was speaking, but Jensen still wasn’t hearing well. He voice was so faint, Jensen couldn’t make him out, and he looked so…puzzled. Not the gloating victor Jensen had expected.

“Jensen! Jensen, I need to speak with you…Jensen!” Jared danced back out of the way as Jensen slammed the Impala in reverse. “Jensen, stop!” he yelled and ran to the driver’s door. Jensen threw it in gear, and then there were only the retreating taillights of the Impala as she streaked out of the parking lot. “Jensen!” Jared gasped as reporters swarmed him.

  
There was the sound of rapping on metal before a familiar voice floated over the rooftop. “Knock Knoooccckkk… Did someone order a pepperoni and cheese pizza with extra pepperoni?” The steel rooftop access door clanged closed behind Danneel as she picked her way carefully across the asphalt rooftop in her high heels, waving a pizza box at Jensen.

Blinking owlishly, Jensen looked up from the eyepiece of his Explore Scientific. The telescope was most probably the most expensive thing Jensen owned, other than his car.. Astronomy had been something he’d been able to enjoy with his father almost every night while he was growing up. Jensen could remember himself at age seven, lying out on deck chairs with his dad, the summer wind silky on their skin as Dad patiently pointed out each of the major constellations, treating him with the mythology behind each one. Now, after his dad’s passing, it was one of the few things guaranteed to calm him after a busy or upsetting day: looking up at the night sky. He could lose himself in the glittering vastness and push his worries aside. It never failed to remind him of his father and their time with the stars.

Danneel was one of the few people who knew about his hobby and his rooftop oasis.

“Earth to Jensen? You’ve got to be hungry by now, right?” She dropped the extra large onto the big cable wheel the utilities company had left after a rewire some years back and plunked herself down on one of the two frayed lawn chairs Jensen kept on the roof. “What a crazy freaking day, Jay.”

Jensen exhaled as he considered his answer. The time with the telescope had calmed him considerably after his cowardly run from the boardroom. What kind of idiot ran from his own company? And how the hell was he going to face Padalecki tomorrow? He sighed and shook his head, reaching for a second beer in the cooler at his feet. He passed Danneel the ice-slick bottle and touched the neck of his own to hers. “Good times.” He smirked and took a long pull from the bottle.

“Yeah, that’s one way of calling it. Not one from this reality, but okay.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Well, Jim chewed my ear off in absentia of you being there, and the new boss prowled around the building all day looking like he was ready to take someone’s head off. You tell me.”

Jensen grimaced as he flipped open the pizza box and dug out a slice. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound so good.”

“Oh.” Danneel frowned and grabbed her purse, digging out napkins to hand him. “Here—Barbarian,” she scolded.

Hot cheese dripping down his chin, Jensen gratefully accepted the napkins. “Thanks,” he grunted through the steaming mouthful.

“So, what does this all mean? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?” Danneel crossed her legs and picked out a slice of her own. She rocked the beer bottle in her hand, Predator Red nails flashing in the darkness before she took a swallow. “I mean, it’s gotta be better than Welling scooping up the company, right?”

Jensen thought about it for a minute and shuddered. Welling lording it over him every day would have been a completely untenable situation. Padalecki, though… Jensen didn’t know.

“Hard to know just yet.”

“Well, it was bad enough that you literally ran from the building.” Danneel stared at him pointedly. “Do you think your new boyfriend is going to be a pain in my ass? Should I be writing up my résumé, or what?”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Jensen glared at her. “Shit, Danni, we slept together once! And I don’t even know if that was a ploy to soften me up.”

Danneel rolled her bottle in her hand. “I don’t think you falling in bed with him was a ploy. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s hot as hell, but I don’t think Padalecki is the kind of guy to play those sorts of games. That’s Welling’s schtick.”

Jensen had to agree. The Jared he’d seen so far could be ruthless and cunning, but he’d come at them head on, no sneaking around. “Still, it’s damn embarrassing to have slept with your new boss. And it’s not like I wanted or needed a new boss. We were doing okay on our own. He basically swooped in and grabbed up everything I’ve been working toward for the last ten years! If he’d been happy as a silent investor, why did he have to go the extra step to announce it? That’s my blood, sweat and tears he just scooped up like it was loose change in his pocket. He could have just told Welling the shares were not for sale and sent him packing. He didn’t have to steal my company!”

Danneel pursed her lips and gazed starwards, mulling over what he’d said.  
“That’s true. I don’t know why he went the extra step. I guess you really are that good in bed.” She grinned.

Jensen growled and threw a crumpled napkin at her. “So not a help.”

He looked at the night sky, too. “What the hell am I going to do, Danni?”

“Well, you still own the same amount of ARM you did yesterday, you’re just short a few sacks of shit board members. Aaand your special project is safe. I think you have to go in tomorrow and talk to Jim, see what’s going on. Then take it from there. Just don’t rush, Jay. Maybe this could be a good thing.”

Danneel’s words echoed in his mind as he drove into work the next day. Thankfully, the press had moved on to another story, and the front entrance was clear. Jensen took the steps two at a time to Jim’s office. Stella wasn’t at her desk, so Jensen rapped lightly at the door and went on in.

He pulled up abruptly when he saw Jared at Jim’s desk.

“Jensen…” Jared started to rise.

“Where’s Jim? Has he been fired, too?” Jensen blurted out, his hard-won calm abruptly shattered by Padalecki’s unexpected appearance here.

“No, no! Nothing like that! He offered me his office while I was looking over the books. Said he could do with a day off after all the excitement.”

Jensen blushed red with embarrassment. “Oh—Oh….umm, sorry to jump the gun like that. I just, er, I’ll just…” Jensen started to retreat, closing the door.

“No, wait, stop. Come in. We need to talk. We haven’t talked yet. Don’t you ever answer your phone?” Jared’s tone was mildly exasperated.

Jensen reluctantly re-entered the room. He glanced absently at his pants pocket where he’d put his cell phone this morning and realized he hadn’t looked at it in days now. He’d put up with the ringtone of repeated calls yesterday by Jared and a multitude of reporters before simply turning the sound off and forgetting about it.

Chagrined, Jensen chewed on his bottom lip. “Sorry, no, the reporters…I turned it off.”

“Come in, sit down. I’d like to clear the air between us.” Jared rose and moved to the sideboard. “Coffee?”

“Please. Black.” Jensen sat in the chair opposite Jim’s desk and rubbed his hands on his pants legs nervously. When Jared passed him the cup, he gulped it down.

Instead of returning to a safe distance behind the desk, though, Jared perched on the edge, a hands breath from Jensen’s leg. “I feel I owe you an explanation.”

“For taking over my company?” Jensen looked up from beneath his lashes, pouring every ounce of disdain he could into his voice.

“Well, that wasn’t the plan to begin with, but given the alternative, what did you want me to do, Jensen? I saved it from being eaten alive. Jim might be a great guy, but he left you completely overextended, vulnerable to any number of vulture capital companies ready to chop you into a million pieces and sell off everything you’ve created without shedding a tear.”

“So your tears will make all the difference?” Jensen sneered. He hadn’t meant to get into it with Padalecki, but now that he’d started talking it was like a dam had burst, all this corrosive bile erupting out of him. “And what was sleeping with me, an extra bonus? Or a chore? Your magic dick save the damaged science guy?” Jensen looked away, “I didn’t know I’d end up the giftwrapped party favour at the end when my company was pulled out from under me.”

“Jensen, Jesus! You were never a chore, you were never even supposed to—I never intended to— It just happened, Jensen. And you were there, too. That has nothing to do with the company.”

“Yeah, but somehow you’re still in control of it.”

Jared ran his hand over his face and shook his head. “It’s obvious you’re not listening to me, you’re too angry. But try to hear me.” Jared stood and started to pace in front of the window, “When we came to meet, it was in good faith. I just didn’t realize how over-leveraged the company was. It was either me or Welling, or someone like Welling. And within the next three months would be my guess. I for one didn’t want all your hard work destroyed. I wanted to keep a healthy financial environment around you, so you could keep doing what you do best: invent.”

“So keep the golden goose happy, even if it means the odd fucking,” Jensen spat out bitterly.

“I won’t go over that again. Talk to Jim. He’ll tell you the truth. With Padalecki Industries' help you’ll be able to roll out your work without compromising. It’s an amazing gift to the world, Jensen, and you’ll be liquid for the first time in years once this hits the market, all because of your brilliance. Your company just needs a little extra help to make that happen for you.”

“And you’ll get rich, too.” Jensen stood abruptly, striding over to the coffee machine. It was a sad stall technique, he knew, as he poured himself another cup. He had to hold the pot with both hands, they were shaking so bad.

“Yes, I’ll make money, but I won’t be scalping anyone while I do it. It’ll be fair return on our investment. The same couldn’t be said of others.”

Jensen stiffened at the thought of Tom gaining control. Jared might be right, but he didn’t have to let him know that. He stubbornly kept his back to him.

“So you’re saying things will remain the same? I’m still in charge?”

“In charge of all development? Yes, absolutely. I’ll be frank with you, though. I’d like Jim to step down. He’s done a good job, but he’s tired, Jensen, and he knows he was outflanked. He wants to stay on in an advisory role for the next year, and then become a member of the Board. Don’t you think he’s earned that?”

Jensen shuddered at the thought of losing his uncle from the company, but if he was being honest with himself, it had become too much work for Jim.

When he spoke again, Jensen’s voice was smaller, wearier. Jared’s calm answers had worn down the bright fury he’d brought into the office. “And how do you fit into the picture?”

“Me? I’ll be out of your hair in a few weeks. Obviously, I want your company to run at a profit, and I think it will, once this launch is completed. You’re just in an awkward phase right now. And I think you need some more experienced people to help guide you through this. I can help with that, if you’ll let me. I’ve got three people coming over this week to meet with you. They’ve all been through complicated pharma rollouts, and I can see you finding great spots for one or all of them. I’d like for you to sit down and talk with them.”

“And if I don’t like them? You’ll hire them anyway?”

“Please, Jensen, give me some credit. Meet with them first before you kill the idea. I also have a man in mind to take over from Jim. He’s meeting with him tomorrow, but as I said, it will be a slow, gradual process. I’m not pushing Jim out the door anytime soon.”

Jensen could feel the heat of Jared’s body against his back as he moved to stand behind him.

“Jensen, please look at me?” Jared’s voice was achingly gentle.

Begrudgingly, Jensen turned and faced Padalecki.

“All my life my father worked in oil, made his fortune that way, made me the man I am today. It’s needed, and it’s precious, but it’s not where my heart lies. I wanted to invest in smart ideas, and you have so very many of those. I hope you can give me a chance.” Jared raised his hand as if to touch Jensen’s face, but then shook his head and stepped back.

In a more brusque tone he continued, “And of course if you don’t like how we’re doing things, you’re always free to go. We can buy you out, or you can continue to be a silent investor. However you want to work it. I won’t stand in your way.”

The phone on Jared’s desk rang, and he turned to pick it up. “Yes, thank you, Stella.”  
He glanced back at Jensen, still standing frozen by the coffee bar. “If you’ll excuse me, I have another meeting.”

Jensen nodded jerkily and walked out. Somehow the man had mixed things up, made him feel like a recalcitrant teen rather than the outraged victim of an unwelcome takeover. Which he totally was. Who was Jared to tell him what he needed in his company? Who was he? And even if he could get along in this new Padalecki-shaped world, why did his heart hurt at the idea of him being gone in a few short weeks? He should be celebrating, shouldn’t he?

The rest of the week passed in a blur. Every ten minutes it seemed that someone or other was coming up to him, congratulating him on all the exciting new changes. A not-so-small part of him loathed it.

After three reminders via Tyler, Jared’s assistant, he finally acquiesced and met with the three people that Jared wanted to send over. Danneel and Osric sat in on the meetings, taking notes.

The first was a woman named Kim Rhodes who had worked at Osaki Medical Corporation and handled a product rollout of their MRI machines. Jensen had to admit he liked her right out of the gate.

“And I said to the man, I don’t care if we have a deadline, I’m not shipping back an MRI machine that still has puke inside it. Find me a temporary machine we can send them.”

Osric’s eyes were wide as saucers, “And they listened to you?”

“Listen, hon, if you want something done right, you have to stick to your guns. Don’t settle for less. And I don’t think you should settle for slower microchips in your scanners. We’ve got to be able to find a supplier that can do it for the same money. These guys are gouging you.”

Danneel punched Jensen in the arm, “See, I told you they were!”

“Ow! Hey, easy on the arms, I need those for inventing and stuff.”

“So what do you think we’re doing wrong?” Jensen leaned back and waited for the unending list of their mistakes to start.

“Actually, I think Osric’s been doing a great job. There’s just a lot of job that needs doing, and more hands will get it done faster. Sure, I could brag about my contact and experience, but you’d get it done yourself. It just might take another six months.”

“That’s realistic,” Osric chimed in. Jensen nodded. He had to admit the young man looked exhausted.

“Okay, well, thank you so much for your time, Ms. Rhodes. We’ll get back to you.”

Osric opened the meeting room door. “I’ll walk you to the lobby. Actually, if you have some time, I’d love to buy you lunch in the cafeteria. I’d like to ask you a few things.”

“Sure, no problem. I have to say before I go, Mr. Ackles, I love what you’re doing here. My aunt has tremors. This could make a world of difference for her.”

Danneel was twirling her pen with its plastic Dean Winchester bobblehead when Jensen returned from seeing Kim to the door of his lab. “What do you think? I think she’s awesome. She’s just the kind of person we need, Jensen.”

“We’ll see.”

The next interview was more of the same, a tech wizard named Kevin Robert McNally  
who could help streamline their software and training process. Osric stared at Jensen anxiously after the man had taken his leave. He knew Osric was already bogged down in that area. “Well, what do you think, Boss? I think he sounds great.”

“We’ll see.”

There were other changes, too. Jim seemed in a better mood and was really happy with Jared’s suggestion of Kavan Smith as the new CEO. “He’s got what it takes in today’s market, Jensen, he’s quick. I hate to say it, but I like him. I think you’d like him, too, if you gave him a chance.”

Jensen muttered a sardonic “We’ll see.”

“We ready to go with this last interview?” Jensen said peevishly. He was sick of all these oh-so-perfect Padalecki suggestions. Did the man never make a misstep?

Danneel breezed into the boardroom. “It’s ten minutes before they’re even due, Boss. Someone’s cranky. You eaten today?” Danneel reached in her lab coat and pulled out two muffins, passing one to Jensen. “Here.”

Jensen bit into the muffin, a little taste of nirvana. “Holy cow, Danni, where did you pick these up? They’re delicious.”

“Our cafeteria. Jared made a few changes there. Now we have a new head chef instead of a lunch lady. They make custom omelets for you and everything. You should eat there Jensen. It’s amazeballs now.”

“So you’re on his side now, too?” Jensen stared at Danneel, surprised at how hurt his voice sounded.

“It’s not a side, Jensen, it’s for your benefit, too. Everyone is happier, and they’re doing great work. It’s not Him versus You.”

Jensen glanced away. His company was being stolen out from under him with magic promises and mystifyingly great muffins. What if Padalecki wasn’t the knight in shining armor they all thought he was? When was the other shoe going to drop? Then they’d all see him for the trickster he was.

Samantha Ferris was exactly two minutes early. And disgustingly competent. She had Osric and Danneel eating out of her hand in no time. Yes, Jensen had to admit that she did have a nice way about her and would be a great addition to the team, but as Osric and Danneel raved about her after she left, all Jensen could choke out was a miserly “We’ll see.”

The rest of Jensen’s days were busy as usual. Testing and testing, then more testing and inspecting product. He arrived early each day and clocked out at six or seven. He thought at first that Padalecki would dog his every move, make sure he wasn’t sabotaging his new company, but he had yet to run into Padalecki. In fact, the few times he’d caught sight of the man, it almost seemed like he was avoiding him. Of course he was; he’d gotten what he wanted, hadn’t he?

After a few days of the new routine Jensen’s nerves were frayed to the breaking point, and he itched to get back on his special project. It was the one thing he was sure he still owned, and he wanted to be back up and running again. With Welling out of the picture, working at the storage locker wasn’t the risk it used to be, so he enlisted JD and Idris to help him set up an impromptu lab in the space.

“I brought food!” Jensen called out, dropping bags of fried chicken, biscuits, and fries on one of the lab tables. “Hey, you guys have made great progress!” Jensen smiled as he looked around the plastic-draped storage locker. An air purifier chugged along in the back behind the locker, hooked up courtesy of JD’s friend and owner of the storage facility, Chad Lindberg. Known to his friends as Ash, he turned out to be quite the handyman. Already four of the five lab stations were running.

JD rose and dusted off his pants. “I don't ever want to see another computer cable or ethernet cord in my life.” He plopped down on one of the stools at the lab table and rooted into the takeout bags, pulling containers out and setting them up. Idris quickly joined them and poured soft drinks into paper cups while JD dealt paper plates like a card shark.

“Oh fried chicken,” JD drawled  
“get into my mouth,  
you are so delicious,  
just don’t fly south.”

Jensen and Idris looked at each other and howled with laughter as JD took a slight bow, then took a large bite out of a chicken leg.

“Did you know you married a poet?” Jensen grinned at Idris, who was still wiping tears of laughter out of his eyes.

“I did not, and I still don’t think I did.” Idris smirked while JD clutched at his heart.

“I am sooooo hurt. I wrote that for you, my love.”

“It’s beautiful, JD, just don’t give up your day job, okay?” Idris grabbed JD in a neck hug and kissed his cheek.

They each busied themselves filling up a plate and chowing down in relative silence until JD reached nonchalantly for another piece of chicken. “So, how’s it goin’ over there?”

“You’ve been talking to Danneel, haven’t you?” Jensen said accusingly.

“Could be, but I wanted to hear it from your mouth. I heard it started kinda rough.”

“You could say that.” Jensen dropped his untouched piece of chicken on the plate. “He’s got everybody fooled, but I know better. He’s going to pull something—I don’t know what, but he’s not as sweet and wonderful as everyone thinks he is.”

“So you don’t like him?”

“I— I don’t know…” Now that his anger and embarrassment had had a chance to cool, Jensen realized that Jared hadn’t really done anything too terrible. I mean other than not disclosing that he had invested mass quantities in Jensen’s company, but other than that… Jensen shrugged and took a bite of his own food.

“But he can’t touch this, right?” Idris waved at the storage locker filled with equipment.

“No, this is all mine. I bought and paid for all of it.”

Idris patted his hand. “You can’t keep going on like this, Jensen. It’s too much stress. You gotta let some of it go. If this is all still yours, find joy in that.”

“It’s true, son, you can worry about stuff that’ll never happen, or you can enjoy the good stuff around you. Like my poetry. Wanna hear another?”

Jensen and Idris both groaned. “God, no.” Jensen threw a buttermilk biscuit at JD to shut him up and then grew serious. “Listen, I hear you. I do, and it’s good advice. It’s just—I kind of feel like I’ve declared war, and now I don’t know if I trust him enough to lay down arms.”

“Well, somebody better do somethin’ soon,” JD advised as he grabbed up another piece of chicken.

“Hey, I wanted that one!” Idris objected, grabbing at the claimed piece.

“You snooze, you lose, darlin’.” JD leaned over with a big grin and kissed his husband.

  
JD’s words of advice kept Jensen awake far into the night.  
  


¤ ¤ ¤

^^ Comments always appreciated


	5. Détente

After a Saturday and Sunday spent in solitary contemplation, Jensen resolved to put away his suspicions, turn over a new leaf, and embrace the suck. On Monday he breezed into the office at eight and slapped a muffin on the table at Danni’s workstation before plucking at the lining paper of his own.  


Danneel startled up from her microscope and blinked. “What the— Oh, hey, Boss. You’re in kinda late. Get lucky again?” She grinned. “And treats!” she cried as she spotted the muffin. “Wait, what gives?” She eyed him suspiciously, but pulled down the paper liner and took a big bite, anyway. Scrunching up her eyes in delight, she savored the deliciousness and mumbled out over her mouthful, “Oh, my God, this is good.” She held up a finger, and waited to speak until she’d swallowed it all down, “Mmmm.“ She ran her hand across her mouth. “Where did you pick up these babies?”

Jensen took his own leisurely bite, taking a harder look at the muffin after his first taste. “I decided to join the Evil Empire. These are from the cafeteria. New proprietress, Maggie Sinclair, I think that was her name. Anyway, she said they were apple cinnamon nut. I thought you’d like that.”

“Like them! I want to die with one in my mouth. Mmm…Wait—you bought something in OUR cafeteria? What gives, Ackles?”

“I told you, I’ve decided to join the evil empire. Give Padalecki’s changes a try. Though personally, I think these things should be tested for crack. There’s no way a normal muffin should taste this good.” Jensen eyed the muffin suspiciously.

Jensen booted up his computer and pulled out his chair, “Hey, do me a favor and line up a meeting as soon as you can? You, Osric and me. I’d like to talk about the new hires.”

“You would? Whoa, calling now, this really is a red-letter day.” Danneel rushed to grab the phone.

  
An hour later, Jensen gazed around the cafeteria table where they were meeting, a cup of the best mocha almond java Jensen had had in a while in front of each of them. It irked him that this Maggie ran such a perfect shop. Was there nothing the woman couldn’t cook? And why had he put up with the crap the old vendors had been dishing out for so long? Jensen nibbled at his bottom lip and took a fortifying sip before he spoke. “So, be honest with me. What do you guys really think about Padalecki’s three prospects?”

Silence greeted his question.

“Come on, I KNOW you’ve got opinions,” Jensen urged.

Danneel pursed her mouth and squinted at him, “You mean like honest-honest, Boss, or sorta-honest?” Both Osric and Danneel stared at him expectantly.

“What do you mean, sorta-honest? Of course I want your opinion, let me have it,” Jensen replied, growing exasperated.

“Well, in that case…” Danni replied—and suddenly both she and Osric were gushing their praise of the potential new hires.

“Kim showed me how to set up multiple bids to get better prices through a government-run competition board in China...”  
“—And what about…?”  
“—Kevin did a quick code change, and that bug that’s been dogging us for months was gone…”  
“—And did you see how easily he…?”  
“—And did you hear some of Samantha’s suggestions about how we could economize on shipments? I never even considered that before.”  
“—Me either, it was fantastic! And then she suggested…”

Jensen’s eyebrows continued to rise as the stream of compliments grew, the two of them trading notes about the virtues of each candidate until his head started to ache. Then they turned to him in unison and said, “Is there any way we could afford to hire all three?”

“Oh!” Jensen stared down at the coffee in his hand. He trusted Osric's and Danneel’s opinions like no one else’s, and it was clear they were taken with all three candidates and how easily they could lead the three departments they were specialists in.

Like a switch being thrown he saw it, so glaringly obvious he should have noticed before. Jared had certainly done his homework. They were not either/or choices; they were each specialists in entirely different fields, purchasing, code, and logistics. He rubbed at the back of his neck as his anger began to rise. This had all been a trap, a perfect Padalecki trap, and he had blindly walked into it. Jensen’s hand tightened around his perfect Padalecki coffee cup.

“Uh, Boss…?”

He looked up, tried to get past the haze of rage that clouded his thinking. Osric and Danneel were looking at him expectantly. He could see clearly how tired both of them were and how excited they were to have more help.

“We’ll see,” he ended lamely.

He went back to the lab to think, but that only seemed fuel his anger and suspicion. One day, one new leaf turned, and look what it had brought him? Betrayal. By late afternoon, he had managed to work himself up to a full head of steam and stormed out of the lab, down the hall, and up the stairs to Jim’s—no, Padalecki’s office. He barreled past Stella, flung the door open, and stormed into Jared’s office. Padalecki’s desk was empty.

“Can I help you?” Jim’s puzzled, disgruntled voice greeted him.

Jensen spun around to see Jim and another man, probably the CEO apparent, sitting at the coffee table, papers scattered over its surface, mid-meeting.

Jensen tossed back his head in disbelief. “Oh God, sorry. I’m looking for Jared. I thought he was still here.”

Jim stared at him for a moment, his faded blue eyes far too perceptive. Jensen squirmed under his gaze. “He was only here for the one day. He moved to the empty corner office down from Lauren. You should be able to find him there.”

“Thanks Jim, sorry to burst in like this. I don’t know where my manners have gone.”

“Well, you should work on finding them,” Jim scolded. “And speaking of manners, I should mind my own. Let me introduce you to Kavan Smith. I don’t think you two’ve been introduced yet. He’s our potential new CEO. Just getting him familiar with the lay of the land before I head out to pasture.”

Jensen swallowed hard. The idea of Jim’s solid presence not being there for him still smarted. Another sin he could lay at Padalecki’s doorstep. And another Padalecki spy infiltrating ARM.

Kavan rose from his seat and extended his hand. Clean-cut, with a military precision to his bearing, his grip was solid, his expression warm and matter of fact. He smiled. “Jensen, I’ve heard nothing but good things about you from your uncle. I know this must seem like a big change, but we’re going to take it slow, and hopefully one day you’ll be able to rely on me in at least some small way, like you do your uncle.”

Jensen’s throat tightened with emotion. Not in his lifetime, if he had any say in it. Barely in control of himself, he could only nod, giving Kavan a tight smile as he shook the offered hand. “Thanks,” he finally managed to choke out.

Jim wheeled away from the table as Jensen turned to leave and caught the sleeve of his lab coat. Quietly he said, “Jensen, I’m worried about you. I think we should talk. Talk about the changes. I know this has been hard on you, son, but I think it’s all going to work out just fine.”

“You too, Jim?” Jensen stared at his uncle in disbelief. Was everyone under Padalecki’s spell? He tugged free of his uncle’s grip and strode from the office without a backward glance.

“Jensen,” Jim called, concern clearly in his voice. “Jensen!”

Jensen stormed through the admin section like a targeting missile, only slowing to nod tersely at Lauren through the glass of her office wall.

He stopped in front of the office Jared had commandeered and rapped sharply at the door. Through the clear stripes in the frosted glass, he could see Padalecki working at his computer, a stack of papers beside it.

“Yeah, come in,” Padalecki’s deep voice, muffled by the glass, called out immediately. Jensen blew in like a thundercloud.

Jared glanced up from his laptop, a pleased smile breaking out. “Jensen! Good to see you.” On closer examination, he added, “Is something wrong? You look upset.”

“So was this your plan all along?”

“My plan? My plan for what, Jensen?”

“Fill the ranks with so many Padalecki-ites at key positions that we’d never notice the creeping takeover? Do you really think we’re—I’m—that stupid?” Jensen paced angrily back and forth in front of the large window of Jared’s office.

“Padalecki-ites?” He chuckled, but then his expression grew serious. “Honestly, Jensen, what are you talking about?”

“Your three ‘suggested’ hires” Jensen described air quotes with his fingers. “You didn’t send me options to do A job, you sent me three people to take over every aspect of the company. Did you think it would go over better if they first came as suggestions? When is the Jensen replacement auditioning? Or is he waiting in the wings already?”

Padalecki’s brow wrinkled in confusion before it cleared. “Oh, you mean Rhodes and the others.” Jared rose from his seat and approached Jensen. “I never said I was sending options for the same job. I was sending folks over who I thought could benefit the company. Didn’t you like them?”

“So that WAS your plan!” Jensen jabbed a finger in Jared’s direction. The man’s admission added more fuel to the bushfire that had become his righteous anger.

“Of course it was. I saw areas where ARM could use help and wanted to fill the need. What’s going on here, Jensen? Why are you so angry? I wasn’t trying to take away your company, just make things work better.” Jared spread his hands in a conciliatory gesture, his tone gentle as he asked, “What can I do to convince you?”

Jensen pulled up, his breath coming in hard rasps, like he’d run a marathon. Why was he so angry about this? Jim wasn’t. Danni certainly thought this was all good. So did Osric. What the hell was going on with him? He looked at Jared, really looked at him, and saw the concern, the hurt Jensen’s words had caused. He felt moisture in the corners of his own eyes. He was having a breakdown right in front of the man who..._used me_.

“Nothing. Nothing’s going on, other than you trying to push your way into my company. Fine, take it all.” He threw up a hand in disgust. “Hire all three of them, Danni and Osric seem to love them. Who the hell am I to stand in the way?” Jensen stormed out, the auto-close on the door denying him the chance to slam it on his way out.

After a sleepless night, Jensen grumpily stomped into the office the next day. The lab was strangely quiet, everyone at ARM tiptoeing around him like he was going to explode at any moment. Even Danneel found reason to work in some of the other labs for the day. Jensen was left to stew in his own juices.

Later that afternoon Jensen was running a battery of reliability tests in the lab when Jim rolled through the lab doors. Jensen had virtually barricaded himself in, after a somewhat disastrous trip to the caf for coffee, and had been hiding out ever since. He hadn’t wanted to risk running into Jared under any circumstances after his tantrum the previous day. Staring despondently at the monitor, he had been wondering where he could go from here.

“So this is where you’re holed up,” Jim observed wryly as he wheeled his chair over to Jensen’s table. “Shouldn’t you be standin’ in the corner or somethin’? You’ve piled up enough demerits to keep you there a while.”

Jensen groaned in response. “Jim, I am--”

“Shut up. I want you to put your listenin’ ears on for a change, instead of hoppin’ from one wild conclusion to another.” Jim’s expression was dead serious. Jensen straightened in his chair.

“When Padalecki did that stunt in the boardroom, I was for sure hopin’ he was our salvation. I worried after that I’d jumped to the wrong conclusion, too, but I gotta tell ya, Jensen, he’s one of the good ones. I’ve watched him now for the last two weeks, and more than that, I’ve had access to his financials as they pertain to ARM.” Jim rubbed at his neck, “That man could have taken us over and broke us into kindling if he’d been of a mind to. But he didn’t. And all the steps he’s taken with the company have been painstakingly thought out. So I say to you, stop actin’ like a damn fool and give the man a chance.”

Jim scrubbed his hand through his thinning hair and rocked his chair back and forth in agitation. “I don’t know what happened between you two, but I don’t believe it's just the company you’re thinkin’ about. I know—I know Tom hurt you, badly. And that you shut down, buried yourself in your work and your guilt. That’s bad, son.” Jim shook his head, his expression full of sadness. “It was just an accident. It wasn’t your fault.” Jim edged his wheel chair in closer and squeezed Jensen’s knee. “There’s a whole big world out there to enjoy, ‘stead of hidin’ in here in a lab. If Padalecki floats your boat, give him a try. I bet my last dollar he’s nothin’ like Tom. And you deserve to be happy, son. Life isn’t all about work and punishment. So just stop. Stop and smell the roses.”  


_Jim pulled up on the sidewalk and jumped out of the car, pulling Jensen into his arms. Jensen was stiff at first and then melted, sobbing on Jim's shoulder, hugging Jim for all he was worth. Jim’s arms wrapped around him._

_“S’okay, son. We’ll get through this. S’okay.” Jim rocked him until the sobs stopped._

“I hear you, Uncle Jim. Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out.”

“Okay, son, ‘cause it’s not just for your own good, but for the company's. You’re upsetting everyone with the way you’re actin’ right now, ‘kay?”

  
The rest of the week had gone a little better, and Jensen kept Jim’s words front and center as he put one foot in front of the other. He wasn’t up to facing Padalecki, so he sent him an email apologizing for his actions and approving the hiring of all three consultants if ARM could afford to do so. Jim sent out a company-wide announcement that afternoon concerning the new hires, welcoming them into the ARM family and advising everyone that they would start immediately. Osric and Danneel rushed into his lab with sweet iced tea to toast Jensen on the great decision.

He felt like a fraud.

  
But he also started to feel better. Or maybe it was just sheer exhaustion. Whatever it was, the tension began to leach out of him. Even sticking strictly to the labs and practical side of the business, he started to appreciate Jared’s changes around the company. His staff was happier, they were working less overtime, and they laughed more. By the time Friday rolled around, he was feeling like a true heel. ARM had never run so smoothly. They were like a well-oiled machine and were even catching up on their original schedule. He slipped out of work quietly. Once home, he flopped on his sagging sofa with a sigh and retreated into sleep.

  
Later that night Jensen sulked on the rooftop. Well, if anyone asked, he wasn’t sulking, he was looking at the stars. There was a great view of Mars tonight, hanging low on the horizon. But the solace he normally found in gazing at the heavens wasn’t there tonight. All he could think about was what Jim had told him and how much of an idiot he’d made of himself with Jared. An irrational, paranoid idiot. He swallowed that realization down for the hundredth time that week and sank into a lawn chair. What was he so afraid of? Was it Tom’s sudden reappearance? The idea of losing ARM so easily? Or what Jim had said? He went into this week supposedly turning over a new leaf, but all along he had just been waiting for Jared to let him down. What was that? Jensen stared pensively at the sky.

A hard rap on the roof access had him calling out, “Danni! Hey, glad you came, maybe you can talk me out of this stupid funk.” The smell of pizza wafted through the air, and Jensen smiled. Leave it to Danni to ride to the rescue, she’d straighten out his dumb ass. He turned to look over his shoulder, but it wasn’t Danneel standing there.

“Jared…” he breathed, his heart tightening in his chest. “What? How? What are you doing here?”

Jared walked toward Jensen, the pizza held before him like a shield. “Danni told me about your secret spot. I thought—well, I thought it might be good if we spoke away from the office. After what happened.”

Jensen licked his lips, his mind blank, gazing at the man who featured so large in his thoughts. Jared looked tired. As tired as Jensen felt, dark smudges under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept. Guilt flooded through him. “Ah, take a seat.” Jensen gestured toward the second lawn chair. He winced as he thought of Jared’s much larger frame. “Ummm…They’re kind of rickety.”

Jared set the pizza down, but instead of sitting, he strolled over to Jensen’s telescope.

“Wow, kind of a beast you have here.” Jared whistled. “Must have cost you an arm and a leg?”

Jensen rubbed his sweaty palms across his jeans as he rose. Even his dumb ass could spot an olive branch when it was handed to him. “You’re not kidding. It was kind of a treat to myself when ARM got its first contract.” With a hesitant grin he said, “Here, I’ll adjust it for you.”

As he worked, Jared asked a few interested questions, so Jensen gave him the crash course on how to use the scope. He caught on quick. Jensen readjusted to catch Mars again and stood back to let Jared have a look.

“Pretty serious stuff.” Jared gestured at the telescope with a smile, his hand touching Jensen’s as he reached for the eyepiece.

Jensen snatched his hand away like it burned. Jared’s smile disappeared.

“My dad and I used to star watch almost every night when I was a kid. The habit stuck, I guess.”

When Jared finally straightened, he looked at Jensen with a strange, wistful expression. “Nice view.”

Jensen’s breath caught at the look on Jared’s face, like disappointment. Could what happened between them have been real? Jensen’s heart clenched. He’d been so caught up in his own fears that he hadn’t even considered Jared’s feelings. He rubbed at the back of his neck and backed toward the table to give himself space to think.

“Hey, we should have some of that pizza before it gets cold.” He flicked a switch on a beam near the big spindle table, and strings of fairy lights strung overhead illuminated the area in a soft gold glow.

Jared hummed in agreement.

“Umm—” Jensen chewed nervously on his bottom lip. “I’m gonna put this out there so you can actually enjoy your supper. I want to apologize to you for how I acted. How I’ve acted for a while. I should have come to you—to talk. I just—I just—I’m an idiot,” he finished lamely.

“Yeah,” Jared said matter of factly as he took a slice of pie. “You really are. I don’t want to undermine you or your company, Jensen.” He sighed and dropped his slice on a paper plate he’d pulled out of an accompanying bag and crossed his arms on the table. He sounded so exhausted. “I don’t know what else I can do to prove it to you.”

“I know, I know.... After Tom—when the Board met, I thought I’d be swapping one alpha male scumbag for another. This is all on me, and I’m sorry. I truly am. Osric and Danni are 100% behind the changes, and if I’m being honest, I am, too. I just need to climb down off this cliff I’ve stranded myself on.”

Jared looked at him for a long while before he finally spoke. “I suggested Kim and Kevin and Samantha because they’re good people. No Padalecki-ites.” Jared smiled sadly. “Just Ackle-ites.”

“Ackle-ites,” Jensen groaned and folded his head in his arms in mock surrender, “Please, punish me for the way I’ve been acting, but whatever you do, don’t mention that in front of Danni. I’ll never hear the end of it.”

There was another long pause before Jared replied. “Oh, I don’t want to punish you, Jensen. I can think of far more fun things to do with you than that.” Jared’s voice deepened. “That is, if you’re still interested.”

Jensen straightened in his chair and stared wide-eyed at Jared, his voice wired directly to Jensen’s groin. “But I thought you were going away in a couple of weeks?”

“Well, away from ARM. The company will be fine, but I’ll still be in San Antonio. Me, I can work from anywhere, especially if I have something—someone—to anchor me here.” Jared reached a hand across the table and took Jensen’s hand in his. “I meant what I said, Jay. I didn’t sleep with you to get ahead. I slept with you because I care about you. I’d like to get to know you better.” His thumb rubbed across the top of Jensen’s pulse point in tingling circles. “I thought you felt something, too.”

Jensen looked away, desperate to compose his thoughts. He huffed out a strangled breath and forced himself to look back into Jared’s tiptilted eyes. “I did. I mean, I do. God, I’ve made such a hash of this! I—I’ve never met anyone I felt so in sync with, like we’ve known each other for years. I know I went kinda nuts. Can I have a do-over?”

Jared’s smile slowly filled his face, dimples on full display. “I would like that.”

Jensen beamed. “Me too.”

The following weeks were a whirlwind of activity. Jared’s three specialists were integrated into the team seamlessly, and the benefits of their experience started to flow almost immediately. It had been a month since Jared had saved the business, and nothing was the same as it was before. Jensen was all right with that.

After much persuading, Jared had stayed in the corner office at ARM, conducting his Padalecki Industries business from there. His assistant Gen had taken up residence in the cubicle outside, and things seemed to flow smoothly.

Jared and Jensen kept it strictly professional at work, though the odd gift muffin might appear on the other's desk, with none the wiser. After work was a different story. They had been seeing each other on a semi-regular basis since that night on Jensen's roof. Supper at Jared’s, then a day or two later, dinner at some restaurant or another trip to a club.

Jensen felt like a stray moon caught in some massive planet’s gravitational field. Being in orbit around Planet Jared was all-encompassing. Without even trying, the man occupied Jensen’s thoughts constantly.

Jensen had also never had such a busy social life. Between Jared’s industry events, meeting his friends or Jensen’s, plus time to themselves, he always seemed to be on the go. Jensen was glad of Danneel’s infusion of clothing into his wardrobe. He’d certainly made good use of it.

One Saturday Jensen resolved not to do any work at ARM or the locker, which he’d neglected terribly. He was standing at his apartment window daydreaming, a cup of coffee in hand, when he heard a thump at the door. He’d been expecting Danni; they were going to lunch in the Market. He rushed to open it.

“Here’s the last of it,” Danneel wheezed, staggering into Jensen’s apartment with another collection of garment and shopping bags.

“Hey, here, I can help. Why didn’t you tell me he had this much stuff? I could have driven over and picked it up.” Jensen grabbed the bags from Danneel and carried them into the bedroom, laying them out on the bed. “How’d you even get in?” Jensen called back over his shoulder.

“You kidding me?” Danneel smirked, “Your lock hasn’t worked downstairs for years. I ring the buzzer as a courtesy.” She sauntered over to the kitchen area and poured herself a glass of water before joining him in the bedroom.

“Whoa, what a mother lode. Are you sure this Chad guy really left you? That you didn’t murder him in his sleep and dump the body? Isn’t he going to miss some of this stuff?” Jensen asked, bewildered at the assortment of suits and jackets she had hauled over this time.

Danni waved her hand. “Oh, you don’t know Chad Michael Murray. He’s a YouTube fashion influencer in men’s wear. He got most of this for free. Besides, he took everything he wanted out of the spare bedroom—his ‘wardrobe.’ This was the stuff he didn’t want. More money than brains, that boy. But he is a sharp dresser.” Danneel winked. “See, I totally did not say ‘was’.” She laughed, a maniacal, bubbly sound in the room. “He’s holed up with some blonde actress over in Houston now. I wish her luck.”

Jensen pulled out a deep emerald suit with a coordinating gold tie. “Holy crow. You expect me to wear that? I’ll look like a peacock!”

“And look delicious doing it. It’ll totally go with your eyes. And you know Jared will love you in it. How’s it going with you two, anyway?”

Jensen smiled softly. “He’s amazing, Danni. To think I almost screwed it up. He kind of takes my breath away.” Jensen looked up from the clothing hoard. “Is it that obvious?”

Danneel smiled. “No, only if you’re blind.”

Jensen winced. He didn’t want to flaunt their relationship. It was—unprofessional.

“I kid, I kid. No, it’s not super obvious. You guys have been careful. But it’s the way you look at each other when the other isn’t looking that’s the big giveaway. Besides, we all know and love you, so of course we’d notice this big a change.” Danneel grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “But it’s a good change, Jay. I’ve never seen you so happy. Don’t overthink it.”

“So,” Danni twirled one of Chad’s ties on her finger, a tasteful blue paisley, “have you guys slept together again?”

“Danni!”

“What? A girl can ask. Just wondering how slow you guys are taking it.”

“Slow enough, that’s all you need to know.” Jensen smiled and wrapped his arm around Danni’s neck, pulling her in for a sloppy kiss on the cheek as they walked out into the living room. “What would I do without you, D?”

“Well if we don’t eat soon, you’re going to find out because I’m going to fall over dead from hunger.”

Jensen rolled his eyes, “You’re such a drama queen! Okay, yeah, grab your bag. Where do you want to go?” He grabbed Danneel’s hand, and she twirled in the center of his living room, her laugh a bright tinkle lighting up the space.

She stopped spinning, out of breath, and sighed. “Somewhere with a patio. It’s too beautiful to be stuck inside. Hey, will you be seeing Jared later?”

“Yeah, he’s getting back to town from his business trip tonight. We were going to eat at his place and just chill.”

“Good idea. If you stayed here, I think the two of you might break that secondhand bed of yours.”

“Danni!”

“Whaaat? It’s true!”

Jensen opened his mouth, but Danneel waved her hands. “Oh hush,” she beamed and tucked her arm into his as she marched him out of the apartment.

  
“Did someone order Chinese?” Jensen leaned against the doorframe of Jared’s apartment, bag of takeout dangling from his fingers.

Jared stood there in a dark v-neck tee, looking hot as hell, as usual. “Depends,” he drawled. “Does it come with a side of Jensen?”

Jensen’s smile grew. “Maybe if you play your cards right.” He waggled his eyebrows and leaned in for a kiss. “How did your trip go?”

“Oh good. Great, actually.” Jared scooped the bag of food from Jensen and led the way into the kitchen, pulling out plates and cutlery. “I got the terms I wanted from Husky,” he smiled, licking his thumb where plum sauce had dribbled out of a container. “They’ll be using the Padalecki refinery full time now.” Dimples flashed. “I have to go back to Houston Monday to work out some of the details, but things are going well. Oh, and I heard from some of my contacts in DC. Looks like it’s going to be a breeze to meet their new computer-assisted recovery standards. So good news for ARM, too.”

“Huh, that is good news.” Nodding in approval, Jensen dished up some of everything onto their plates. “I’d been worried about that. We could have been logjammed there for months, waiting.”

“I can tell you, it’s no thanks to Welling. He was the biggest lobbyist spending against it. That man’s a piece of work, Jensen.” Jared looked him in the eyes, his expression concerned. “Please stay clear of him. If he’s interfering in DC, who knows what else he’s up to. Or how much damage he’ll cause along the way to get what he wants.”

Jensen nodded. Jared wasn’t wrong. Tom was one of the most ruthless men he’d ever met.

“Oh my God, I’m full. That’s the last time I’m letting you fill my plate, Ackles. I think I’m going to explode.” Jared shoved his plate onto the coffee table and leaned back into the sofa and groaned. He grabbed the remote and flicked on the television. “I don’t think I can move.” He laughed as he flicked through the guide. “Hey, game's on tonight, Houston at Seattle. You okay with that?”

“Sounds good.” Jensen chuckled as he admired Jared’s lanky, sprawled figure. He scooped up their dishes and took them into the kitchen. “You just sit there and relax. You don’t have to do anything more until Monday, right?”

“Yeah, and I’m sooo looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow,” Jared called out as Jensen scraped the plates and stacked them in the sink.

“Sleeping in for one whole day? Wow, you dream big,” Jensen teased.

“That’s the pot calling the kettle black. When’s the last time you slept in, hot shot?”

Jensen grinned as he came back into the living room. “Why, that would be the day I slept here, of course.” He dropped onto the sofa beside Jared and leaned in next to him.

“We should do that again,” Jared whispered, nuzzling Jensen’s cheek.

“Hmm, that might be a good idea.” Jensen turned his head to catch Jared’s mouth with his. Jared grinned beneath his lips and opened for him. They sat there making out while on the screen the game played on, unnoticed.

Suddenly the crowd on the screen roared, and Jared released Jensen’s lips to see what happened. “I’m a football widow already,” Jensen grumbled.

Jared moaned when Jensen levered against him to sit up. “Oof! Careful with the stomach.”

“Maybe this will help.” Jensen grinned mischievously as he slipped to the floor. “Let’s do the dad thing and loosen those pants,” Jensen murmured as he shuffled between Jared’s legs. Jared stared at him quizzically until Jensen started to pull Jared’s track pants down.

  
Jared’s gaze was hooded, only a slice of hazel visible, as he lifted up. Jensen worked the pants down enough to reveal Jared’s half-hard cock. His mouth watered. It had been a while since Jensen had done this; he hoped it was like riding a bike. Shivering in anticipation, he sent Jared what he hoped was a smoldering look from under his lashes before he touched his tongue to Jared’s cock experimentally. He felt Jared twitch and inhale sharply. Figuring he was on the right track, Jensen licked a long, wet stripe up the underside of Jared's shaft.

Jared moaned, Adam’s apple bobbing as he bucked forward. Jensen leaned in again, licking up and down the shaft, digging his tongue into the slit of the leaking head. Spitting in his hand, Jensen jacked him a few times before he carefully took him into his mouth.

Jared arched back, his whole body tightening. Jensen grinned around the cock in his mouth, recognizing Jared's fight to keep from just fucking into Jensen's mouth. He held still as slowly, achingly, Jensen sucked as much as he could into his mouth, covering the rest of Jared’s cock with his hand, and began to bob up and down. Jared watched, hypnotized as his cock bulged rhythmically in Jensen’s mouth. He reached back to grip the back of the sofa. While Jensen appreciated Jared's struggle to keep from grabbing his head and shoving it down harder on his shaft, he was delightedly proud of turning the man into a tower of quivering need.

Jared’s dick was large in Jensen’s mouth. He couldn’t get enough of it and tried to choke more of him down, swallowing around him. He worked up and down, his own arousal building as his cheeks sucked and hollowed on Jared’s shaft. Their pleasure grew, until Jared cried out “Jay!” Jensen started to hum. Jared‘s whole body jolted, like electricity shot through him. Helpless against the delicious vibrations, he lost it, and Jensen gasped and sputtered as Jared spent his salty release deep down his throat.

Blissed out, Jared sagged back on the sofa, his chest heaving like a bellows. Carefully, Jensen eased Jared's cock out of his mouth and pulled himself up onto the sofa to collapse beside him.

“Good play?” Jensen licked the last of Jared’s release from his lips and glanced at the television innocently.

“Very good play. Totally outmaneuvered the other side.” Jared blew out a breath and released his death grip on the sofa. The fingers of one hand tangled in Jensen’s short hair, massaging his skull before pulling him in close for a long, slow kiss. When they parted, he licked his lips, tasting himself on Jensen’s tongue. “Now, fair is fair, maybe I could help with that?” Jared glanced meaningfully at Jensen's own erection where it strained the cloth of his pants.

“Could be. You’d be willing to help a Science Guy out?” Jensen arched a brow.

Jared ran his large hand over Jensen’s aching cock, palming it through the material.

“I surely would.” Jared smiled and swooped in for another kiss.

They woke mid-morning and made love slowly and carefully for the third time before falling back to sleep. Later in the afternoon, they woke again, sweaty and hungry, staring into each other’s eyes. Jared’s hand snaked through the covers to grasp Jensen’s half-hard cock. Jensen groaned as his dick thickened under the attention. Then his stomach growled loudly. He put his hand over Jared’s. “Much as I’d love to, you need to feed me first.” Jensen sniffed at himself and pulled a face. “ I need a shower, too, this much sexy isn’t good.”

Jared chuckled and reluctantly released him. He eased up on one elbow. “You’re probably right. I’ll go whip us up something. How’s an omelet sound?”

“Perfect,” Jensen and his stomach growled in approval.

“You go grab the first shower while I change these sheets.”

“Oh God, a gentleman and a prince. But maybe we could kill two birds with one stone.”

Jared arched a brow. Jensen simply grabbed him by the hand and led him into the bathroom. They made love in the shower.

They ate outside on the patio, the afternoon bright and sunny, but the breeze kept it comfortable. Then they wandered inside to Jared’s game room where Jensen kicked his butt in Assassin’s Alley.

In disgust, Jared threw down the remote after Jensen killed him for the fifth time. “I used to be good at this.”

Jensen grinned as he continued to fight the computer AI’s. “Watch and learn, Wonderboy, watch and learn.”

Jared leaned back and admired Jensen’s moves in the game, then simply admired Jensen. “I’m glad you came,” Jared said, his hand picking at a tear in the knee of Jensen’s jeans. “This has been great. And I’m not just talking about the sex.”

Jensen eyebrows rose, and Jared quickly amended, “Though the sex has been mind-blowing.” Jensen preened. “You know what I mean. It’s so easy.”

“First for me, too. I’m glad you persevered. Wouldn’t trade this for anything.”

“I don’t want to spook you.” Jared looked at him seriously. “But I’d like to make this a regular thing. Hell, eventually I’d like us to move in together.”

Jensen stared at Jared in shock and set the game controller aside. On the screen, his character went up in flames. “Together?”

“Sure, why not? You’re amazing, you keep me on my toes.”

Jensen looked away, his head shaking back and forth. “Jare, there’s things—things you don’t know about me.”

“And there’s things you don’t know about me, either. But we can give it a shot.”

Jensen stared down at his hands. “I just—I don’t want you to be disappointed.” His voice sounded small, lost, even to his own ears.

Jared gently grasped Jensen’s chin and turned his face so they were looking each other in the eye. “I could never be disappointed in you. Believe me.”

For the rest of the day they napped and ate supper in the living room, watching some home improvement show, arguing about the interior decorating decisions the couple made. If Jensen seemed a bit distracted since their talk, Jared never brought it up again, giving him time to think about it. After supper Jared again asked Jensen to stay the night, but Jensen declined.

“Nah, I have to go home, get some clean clothes, some real sleep, and rest my ass. I think you might have broken it!” Jensen grinned unabashedly. “Besides, you’re leaving first thing in the morning and need sleep, too.” Jensen shushed Jared when he started to protest. “I mean real sleep. Will you be back Monday night?”

Jared shook his head. “CEO wants to take me out to dinner to celebrate, so I think I’ll be staying over and drive back first thing Tuesday.”

“I’ll miss you.” Jensen squeezed his hand.

“We could do something after work.” Jared walked him reluctantly to the door. “I can get Ty to take you home if you want?”

“Nah, I drove the Impala over, and I’m sober as a judge, anyway.” He turned and patted Jared’s chest. “Be safe. And call me, okay?”

“I will.” Jared leaned in and gently kissed Jensen good night. “Think of me in your dreams,” Jared teased as he watched Jensen head to the elevator.

“Don’t you know it. Night!” Jensen waved as the elevator doors closed smoothly in front of him.

“Love you,” Jared whispered as he stared at the closed door.  
  


¤ ¤ ¤

^^ Comments always appreciated


	6. The Past that Haunts

Jensen was restless Monday. He texted Jared a few times. Things seemed to be going well for him in Houston, but Jensen couldn’t settle into his normal routine. He kept thinking about Jared wanting more of a commitment, scared at how much the idea thrilled him.  


He managed to get through his Monday morning staff meeting and attend the lecture on new medical protocols that Kim had set up, even got a bit of work done in the lab, but continued to feel at odds. He thought briefly about dropping by JD's and Idris’s place, see what they were up to, but wasn’t sure he was ready for all the questions they’d naturally have about him and Jared. Then he thought about the storage locker and the work he’d completely neglected there for weeks. That seemed to settle him. Without Jared, a few hours’ work there tonight sounded like just the thing.

The night was warm, the wind silky on his face and arms as he drove over to the lockers with all the windows down. He smiled as he remembered going into the near-deserted cafeteria just past six to find Maggie and Jim a table near the register, talking and laughing. It had been good to see his uncle happy. He wondered if it would turn into something more.

As he arrived at the storage site, he waved to Ash through the windows of the front office.

Ash came out to greet him, turning out the lights in the manager’s office and locking the door on his way. “Hey, Jensen, you here for a while?”

Jensen smiled, “Yeah, it’s a good night to sort through some stuff. I’ll be a couple of hours.”

“Have at it, man, there’s been no one around here all evening. I was just going to head home.”

“I have my key, I’m good.”

“Well, I’ll leave it unlocked for you, just lock up when you leave.”

“Sounds good Ash, have a good evening.”

“Sure will, there’s a game on and beer in the fridge.” Ash waved, whistling as he made his way to his big red pickup.

  
  
The Impala rumbled to a stop in front of his locker. Jensen didn’t bother with the visitor parking; the likelihood of him being in anyone’s way was close to nil. He unlocked the big double garage door and lifted it. It creaked and ground its way up. He flicked on the lights, dropped the big door down behind him, and turned on his test computers. As he waited for them to boot up, he poured himself a cup of Maggie’s excellent mocha almond java out of a thermos she’d filled for him and grabbed one of her ready-made sandwiches, making himself at home. He popped in his earbuds, set his favorite playlists to run, and began to work.

As the statistical report from the last series of tests came up, he lost himself in the familiar rituals of troubleshooting. He’d had a problem with the new prototype spinal relay not being able to keep up with the brain’s commands. As he dug deeper into the test results, he thought he spotted something. After running down the previous test results, he compared the two, spotting a possible anomaly. “Ha! Gotcha!”

Jensen was lost in thought, singing along with Led Zeppelin’s Travelling Riverside Blues blasting in his headphones, when he thought he heard something. He tugged an earbud out and cocked his head, but there was only the hum of the equipment. He was just about to plug it back in when a deep voice broke in through a lull in the music.

“Really Jay, sitting alone, singing to yourself.” Jensen froze, it couldn’t be, no, not here… A cold finger of dread ran down his spine. He spun in his chair. Bright blue eyes watched him from the half-open door.

  
“Tom.” He mouthed, shock and surprise ripping through him. He pulled out the other earbud and grabbed up the phone to kill the music. “What are you doing here? This is private property.”

“But it’s not your property now, is it, Jenny-boy?” Tom sneered as he prowled around the perimeter of the storage locker, circling Jensen like a predator. “What? You think I didn’t know about this place? Wasn’t having you followed? I knew you’d pull some stunt like this.” Tom laughed an ugly dark laugh. “For all that you’re a genius, you’re not that smart.”

“Fuck off, Tom. Leave, or I’m calling the police.” Jensen called up the number pad on his phone.

“Why, I bet even Jared dearest doesn’t know about this place. Doesn’t know how you stole company property from ARM and set up business here.” Tom circled closer, finally perching on a stool near Jensen. “In faaaccctt—” Tom set the stool spinning before he dropped his feet to the ground and brought himself to an abrupt stop, facing Jensen. With a menacing smile he leaned in, placing his hands on the table on either side of Jensen, pinning him in. “I bet no one knows about this little side lab of yours. Whatcha got brewing here, Jenny?” He smirked as he slowly caressed the side of Jensen’s face with his hand. “Whatcha going to spring on the world?”

Jensen jerked his head away as far as he could. Tom stepped in closer. “You know what I’m working on. What I’ve been working on for years.”

Tom threw back his head and laughed. “What, a cure for poor Uncle Jim? Gonna be Jesus, make him rise like Lazarus and walk? God, you’re such a sap!” Tom leaned closer, a smirk plastered to his face. He nuzzled against Jensen’s neck, then licked at his pulse point as he started to rock against Jensen’s thigh. “Is the guilt still eating you up? Poor little Jenny-boy.”

“Shut up,” Jensen said behind clenched teeth. “Just shut up and get out.”

Tom tilted his head and looked at the computer monitor, his eyes narrowing. “Just because I think you’re a fucking sad sack doesn’t mean you’re not on to something. So we’re going to sit here until my men arrive and clear out all this equipment.”

Jensen lunged to his feet. Startled, Tom stumbled back. “I’m calling the police.”

“Ha, ha, ha, so the kitten thinks it has teeth. Feisty!” Tom mocked, a cold smile filling his face. “Just spitballing here Jenny-boy, but if you do that, Jared finds out you kept some pretty important inventions off the books. What’s that going to do to your little fairy tale romance? Other than me, you might have found the only guy desperate enough to put up with you.” Welling grabbed at the chair nearest him and set it to spin with a savage shove. “So I’ll just go register the patents on whatever you’ve got brewing here,” Tom sneered. “And I don’t spill the beans.”

“Shut up! I won’t tell you again, you’re not fit to even say his name!” Jensen snarled as he started to punch in 911.

Tom sprang, batting Jensen’s phone out of his hand. Jensen heard the screen crack as it hit the concrete floor. With his other hand Tom grabbed Jensen by the neck and propelled him backwards to pin him against the wall. “You’ll do as I say!” Tom roared, using both hands to choke Jensen.

Something inside Jensen snapped. Like a dam bursting, it swept everything away, the fear, the hurt, the anger—everything holding him back—gone. In its place, a blinding tide of rage. “Never.” Jensen ground out as he lashed out, punching and kicking wildly. He wasn’t going to take it this time. He couldn’t erase what Tom had done to him all those years ago, what he’d done to that innocent, hopeful boy he used to be, stealing away that life that he had never been able to live—but he could stop this. Tom wasn’t going to get the best of him.

On a surge of adrenaline Jensen shoved him away and caught him in the gut with a right hook. He continued to punch and shove Tom until he stumbled back against one of the tables. Then Tom got in a lucky kick and swept Jensen’s feet out from under him. His head bounced on the concrete floor, his vision going black at the edges. As he struggled to rise, Tom knelt on his chest and started to choke him. Jensen gasped, struggling for air, his arms beating at the sides of Tom’s head. His right hand finally connected hard enough to loosen his hold.

“Never,” Jensen’s rasped out. “Never again.”

Tom’s mouth twisted as he looked down at Jensen. “I’m going to take everything you have, and you’re not going to say a damn thing. When my new technology is ready, you and Uncle Jim can line up with the rest of the world and beg me to heal him.”

Jensen growled and shoved back, catching Tom off guard with the strength of it. Tom tumbled off him, floundering. Jensen followed, a right hook catching Tom on the jaw and then another jab from the left. “Not gonna happen,” Jensen snarled, as he continued to rain blow after blow down on that face, blood making his knuckles slick. He kept going until his arms tired, and Tom had stopped moving. Jensen rose shakily to his knees and looked down at the man who had terrorized him for almost fifteen years. His face a bloody pulp. Those blue eyes, swelled shut.

In grim satisfaction Jensen watched as Tom coughed, spitting up blood, then groaned and blindly scrambled to rise, stumbling away.

Right into Jared Padalecki’s waiting arms.

Welling sputtered as he tried to yank himself out of Jared’s grasp. Blindly, he threw a fist, but Jared was ready for him, clipping him soundly under the jaw, laying him out on the floor.

Jensen stood there, panting, his vision still blurry. How was Jared here?

“I thought you needed some help taking out the trash,” Jared said smoothly. “The police and EMTs will be here in minutes. I assume you’re going to press charges against this…piece of human excrement.” Jared toed Welling’s unconscious body in distaste.

Jensen could only choke out “Jared” before he tumbled to the ground.

Jared scooped him up in his arms and eased him into a chair. “Easy, Jay, you just went toe to toe with an animal.” Jared rifled through the items on Jensen’s desk and came back with a water bottle. “Here have some of this. I’m sure your throat is killing you.”

“M’sore, Jare.”

“Drink.” Jared crouched beside his chair and pressed the water bottle to his lips.

“Why...here?” Jensen coughed. The cold water was bliss on his bruised throat.

“Hey, don’t talk, rest your throat. Why am I here? Funny story. Turns out the Husky CEO’s son got chicken pox. Poor little guy has a miserable case of ‘em, so I took a rain check and beat it back here. I wanted to surprise you.”

Jensen’s eyebrows knit in confusion, and he shook his head.

“I had just pulled in to the ARM parking lot when I saw the Impala leaving. I figured I’d follow you home, maybe we’d have dinner. Instead, I ended up here. I was debating whether I should walk in on whatever all this is, or just go home—when I saw Welling’s Porsche pull up.

“I was waiting for you to kick his ass home. You just seemed to need a little assist to get him to the door.” Jared swallowed and looked away briefly before he added, “I just wish you’d trusted me enough to tell me about all this first.” Jared’s lips twisted into a mirthless smile. “You did warn me, though. I just never thought your secrets would be this big.”

Sirens wailed in the night, distant but growing closer every minute. Jared passed the water bottle to Jensen and stood. He walked over and pushed the half-open storage door completely up, so the police could see the lights.

“Maybe you were right. Maybe we could never have made this work.” Jared looked back at Jensen wistfully. “I just remember this boy I met at a party once, at college. He was beautiful.” He smiled sadly. “He had bottle-green eyes and freckles that I wanted to taste, each and every one. He also had bruises on his arms, and that made me want to take him away, keep him safe from whoever had hurt him.”

Jared turned away, hooking his hands into the overhead garage door as he stared up at the stars.

“He invited me outside to the frat house patio, to get away from the noise. We lay on the grass, staring up at the stars. He told me the names of the constellations. Of course, the only stars I was interested in were the ones in his eyes, but I was young and stupid, a junior to his senior. He seemed so much wiser and smarter than me even though he was four years younger. I was just building up the nerve to ask him to leave with me when this drunk stumbled outside and yelled his name.” Jared looked back over his shoulder at Jensen.

Tears ran down Jensen’s cheeks. He remembered that night vividly, remembered the boy—Tristan James. He had wanted to run away with that boy, too. But that wasn’t what happened…

“The other boy grabbed him and yelled at him, dragged him away…. I tried to stop him, but he punched me and shoved me down. The green-eyed boy never said anything. I found out a few days later that he’d been in a terrible car accident, that his uncle had been paralyzed. I wanted to talk to him, but I never saw him again. All I knew was his name.”

Jensen swallowed hard, tears in his throat, his heart one huge ache for that boy, for himself. Anguish gnawed at him like a wild thing.

The police sirens stopped as they drove onto the storage lot. Before Jared walked out to greet them, he turned and spoke.

“Regrets, right?” Jared’s lips thinned to a narrow line. “They’re a bitch.”

  
Jared shoved the last of his papers into a banker box and slammed the filing cabinet drawer closed. He had cleared out his office at ARM, and Gen would work remotely from home for the next little while, until things got settled.

Jared snorted. How could things ever be settled with his heart torn from his chest? Was he supposed to go around for the rest of his life with a big gaping wound? How do you explain a missing heart?

He hadn’t seen Jensen so far today, but then he hadn’t gone looking. The late night with the police and the visit to the hospital for the bruises on his throat probably kept him at home. With a sigh Jared closed his laptop, stuffed it in his carry bag, and grabbed up the box.

Ackelites waved and nodded at him as he made his way to the door. He’d been amazed at how quickly he’d found a home within ARM. He’d never felt quite the same in his dad’s world. The big office, the Old Boys’ club. Not Jared’s style at all. He’d found a way to run the company, but his heart, his missing heart, had always been with ARM.

Ty was waiting outside and rushed to open the door for him. “Where to, Boss?” Ty’s pale blue eyes tracked him through the rearview mirror.

“Just home, Ty, thanks.”

Ty closed the window between them, leaving Jared in the tinted darkness of the limo with his morose thoughts.

So he was surprised when Ty opened his door again, and he saw that they were parked outside Jensen’s dilapidated apartment building.

Ty shrugged. “They got to me, Boss. He’s on the roof. He’d like to speak with you.”

Jared cursed loudly. “Fuck! Un-fucking-believable. You pull a stunt like this on me again, I’m firing your ass. I don’t care that we went to school together.” Ty nodded nervously as Jared slammed the limo door behind him, snarling. “Wait right there. This is not going to take long.”

Jared stomped up the stairs. He didn’t bother trying Jensen’s apartment. Although he’d never visited it, he knew it was on the top floor, unit 406. Jensen had always wanted to meet at his place, since it was probably as rundown as the rest of the building. But instinct told him Jensen would be waiting for him on the roof.

He opened the access door quietly. The fairy lights cast Jensen’s face in shadow; all he could make out was Jensen sitting in one of the lawn chairs, his hand on his chin, lost in thought. The squeak of the rusty door brought his head swinging around.

“Jared.” His voice was rough, but not as shredded as the previous night. He jumped to his feet. “Thanks for coming.”

“You have ten minutes, Jensen, then I’m gone. It won’t affect ARM, I’ll just expect big fat royalty checks from ALL your work, nothing more.” Jared’s tone was cold, matter of fact. Jensen visibly wilted under his stare.

“Jared, please. I want to explain. What you saw last night, it isn’t what you think.”

“What, I didn’t see you in a storage locker chock full of stolen intellectual and scientific property from ARM?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Nine minutes.” Jared sat, folded his hands on the table, and stared at Jensen. “Go.”

“The work I was doing in the locker, the whole reason why it was even there in the first place, was to protect it from Tom. When we—when I thought Tom was going to get his hands on ARM. I knew I couldn’t protect the work ARM had created, but at least I could protect my own work and not let it fall into his hands.”

Jared snorted derisively. “You don’t have any personal work. You _are_ ARM.”

Jensen sprang from his chair and started to pace. “No, I’m more than that. Remember at the board meeting when Jim said I had an agreement with ARM that all my work _except_work begun before the formation of ARM was the sole property of the company? _THIS_ was my one piece of work that I had before the company. All the equipment I’ve paid for out of my own pocket.”

Jared shook his head, “Jensen—”

“I have the receipts!” Jensen interrupted, desperate to make Jared understand. “I only worked on it after hours. And I’ve been working on this a long time.” Jensen knelt at Jared’s side, his hands on his forearm. “Jared, you have to believe me! It’s been my life’s work. I started this in the weeks after the accident. I needed to find the answer, make Jim better. ARM was formed on technology I came up with that was of no use to me in my research on paralysis. I ceded those rights to ARM.”

Jared’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Jensen, trying to sense a lie. “So if it was yours, why hide it?”

Jensen laughed, a manic sound, “You saw Tom—he wasn’t going to stop. I had to protect this research. It means everything.”

“I know you felt bad about your uncle being paralyzed in the accident,” Jared sighed. He didn’t want to hear all these excuses; it didn’t change how things were. “Jensen, it wasn’t your fault.”

“But that’s just it, it was! I was driving that night. It’s my fault Jim was paralyzed. All because I was too stupid not to see Welling for what he was, to get away from him. If I had, none of this would have happened.” Jensen rose, paced back and forth. “I wouldn’t have left you in the yard. I wouldn’t have gotten behind the wheel when Uncle Jim came to rescue me. None of it.”

“Rescue you. Wait, what? What happened after Tom dragged you away? Why didn’t I see you again on campus?”

Tears tracked down Jensen’s face as he turned to look at Jared. Pain that he’d buried now rushed to the surface with a vengeance. “Tom was drunk. He was always drunk at these things, but up until that night he’d never… DONE anything to me when he was drinking. But that night, after finding me outside with you, he was livid. I couldn’t control him. I said no, but he wouldn’t stop... He raped me.”

  
_He remembered the first time he’d met Tom at a party. Brilliant blue eyes were the first thing he noticed about him, sharp and piercing, watching him. With a practiced ease Tom strolled across the room toward him. “Hey, Green Eyes, haven’t seen you around here before.” He clamped cruel fingers around Jensen’s chin with a too tight grip. _

_He had been so taken with Tom’s good looks, his charm. Somehow he made himself ignore all the casual cruelties that should have been warning signs._

_Shoved, arms flailing ineffectively as he was crowded against the wall, one arm after the other grabbed and twisted behind him in a punishing grip. Bright blue eyes stared down at him through the shadows, gloating. Hands caught him out in the darkness. Uninvited, they touched his face, his chest, roaming over his chest, cock ass, like they had the right. He pushed them away but was shoved down. He shuddered and let out a violent scream_

_“You thought you could get away from me didn’t you? But I showed you. I’ll always be one step ahead of you. You’re mine. And I always keep what’s mine.” A dark mocking laugh twisted Jensen’s stomach._

_“We should toast, to your first time. Was it good for you baby?” A rough hand fingered his aching ass. “Cause it was sure good for me. In fact, I think we should do it again.” The leering face replaced by darkness as he was shoved onto his belly, his face mashed into the bedding. _

  
Jensen turned away, his arms wrapped around himself in a vain attempt to soothe the hurt and try to shake off the memories, to talk to Jared.

“As soon as I heard Tom start to snore, I crawled out of the bed. My shirt and shorts were ruined, but my pants and hoodie were okay. And there was blood. My hands were shaking, but I managed to tear my shirt into strips to staunch the bleeding so I could put on my pants. I was terrified Tom would wake up and want more. I’ve never been so afraid in my life.”

Jared sat there, frozen. Of all the horror scenarios of Jensen disappearing, this was something far beyond anything he’d imagined.

Jensen licked his lips and forced himself to keep going.

“The second floor was pretty deserted by then. I found an empty room and called Uncle Jim. He was at a party, but he promised he’d come right away.” Jensen continued to pace, tremors running down his arms. “I met him at the curb. I was sobbing, I couldn’t even see the street."

_Jim pulled up on the sidewalk and jumped out of the car, pulling Jensen into his arms. Jensen was stiff at first and then melted, sobbing on Jim's shoulder, and hugged Jim for all he was worth. Jim’s arms wrapped around him._

_“S’okay, son. We’ll get through this. S’okay.” Jim rocked him until the sobs stopped._

"Uncle Jim wanted to drive, but he’d been drinking. I took the wheel, but I kept breaking down during the ride. I don’t even remember going through the red light. The truck hit the passenger side…” Jensen collapsed into the chair, sobbing.

  
Jared was stunned. He’d been so sure Jensen had been trying to pull a fast one on him. He’d stood outside that storage locker last night and listened to all the poison pouring from Welling’s lips and swallowed it down whole.

He could feel the truth of Jensen’s words in his bones.

He knelt beside Jensen’s chair and wrapped his arms around him.

“It’s okay. It’s gonna be all right.”

“But you’re leaving,” Jensen wailed, and Jared’s heart broke a little more.

“No, I’m not, I’m just a fool. I should have believed you, given you a chance to explain. I am so sorry, Jensen. Forgive me?”

Jensen hiccupped. “You’re not leaving me?”

“No, you big idiot, I’m not. You’re stuck with me. You’ve been stuck with me since you were 17 and I met you at that party. I’ve been following after you your whole life, trying to make things better for you. But for right now, let’s go downstairs to your place, get you cleaned up. And you need a drink. A stiff one.”

  
Jared ordered in food and sent Ty home. They talked for hours. They talked until Jensen’s voice started to give out, and Jared urged him to take a break and a couple of painkillers. By then it was late, so Jensen asked him to stay the night.

As they lay in bed, Jared curled around Jensen’s smaller frame, Jensen asked, “I never put it together—Jared Padalecki and Tristan James. Why the alias?” Jensen burrowed his head into the hollow beneath Jared’s chin.

“When your dad is one of the richest people in the world, you don’t send your kid to school using his real name. Tristan James is my middle name.”

“Ahh,” was Jensen’s reply, the pills the doctor had prescribed starting to kick in.

“And what did you mean, trying to make my life better?” Jensen twisted so he could look Jared in the face.

Jared blushed. “Umm, well—after you disappeared, I had a private investigator track you down. He didn’t know about the stuff with Welling, but he found out about the crash. That same year, your dad’s company fell on hard times, so I kind of helped bolster it. I eventually bought it from you after he died, through a series of trusts, of course. Your early ideas were just too damn good. I knew you belonged in biotech. When ARM started up, I ordered my people to buy up your stock. Someone like Tom was going to show up sooner or later. I knew you’d come up with something big and attract some big sharks. I just didn’t think it would actually be him.”

“So you’ve been stalking me for what, fifteen years?” Jensen mused as he laid butterfly kisses down Jared’s throat and chest.

“You don’t seem particularly upset.” Jared gazed at him, a bemused smile on his face.

“Well, I never had a stalker before. At least not a nice one. It’s quite the compliment. After all, you only met me for one night.”

“Yes, but one night was enough. You made me see stars.”

Jensen hummed in approval, his eyelashes fluttering down on his cheeks.

A crack and a giant crash sounded in the room. Jared and Jensen suddenly found themselves on the floor.

“What the hell?” Jared cried out, “You okay?”

Jensen nodded and started laughing. Jared asked, “What just happened? What’s so funny?”

“We broke the bed!” Jensen broke out into a new round of laughter.

“But we weren’t doing anything,” Jared replied, exasperated, as he stared at the shattered pieces of the old metal bed.

“Don’t tell Danni that, she’ll never believe us anyway.” Jensen reached up and kissed Jared. “I’m feeling a lot more awake,” he hinted.

“Well, if we’re going to be accused of the crime anyway, we may as well be guilty of it.” Jared smiled back and reached down to stroke Jensen’s fattening cock.

“My thoughts exactly.”

¤ ¤ ¤

^^ Comments always appreciated


	7. Epilogue

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**   


Ackles Research in Motion (ARM) beats Wall Street Expectations with Spinal Assistive Technology  
After beating Wall Street’s expectations last year when it brought its highly anticipated neural amplifiers to market (assistive technology that can portage motion and sensation signals past damaged areas of the brain and to the parts of the body that need the signal), Ackles Research in Motion is taking the world by storm yet again with the start of human trials for its breakthrough take on spinal injury assistive bridging.

With the new launch of its Spinal Relay technology, ARM is now on a trajectory to be one of the top 100 companies in the world, transforming assistive technology forever.

The concept behind their new technology is based on external relays that can ferry signals over damaged segments of the spinal cord to restore both sensation and control over limbs below the break. Based on positive test results in its first series of human trials, this technology is going to be a game changer.

Testing on this project is expected to last three years and is being done in conjunction with researchers at the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE) at the University of Washington.  
ARM (Ackles Research in Motion)

Backgrounder  
ARM is a global hub for delivering neural-inspired sensorimotor devices

ARM is based in San Antonio, and its main partner organizations are Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and San Diego State University (SDSU).

ARM’s mission is to develop innovative neural devices and methods for directing engineered neuroplasticity in the brain and spinal cord, which will improve sensory and motor function for people with spinal cord injury, stroke, and other neurological disorders. Engineered neuroplasticity is a new form of rehabilitation that uses engineered devices to re-wire the nervous system and restore lost or injured connections in the brain and spinal cord.[1]

For more information contact Lauren Tom, Public Relations Director  
Ackles Research in Motion  


¤ ¤ ¤

**One Year Later**

“Stop fussin’, woman. I’m fine,” Jim groused as Danneel straightened his tie for the third time.

“What? I tidy when I’m nervous.” Danneel nibbled at her lip as she stepped back to look at the groom.

“You look great, Uncle Jim. Perfect,” Jensen chimed in, surveying his uncle’s wedding finery. Maggie was waiting at the opposite end of the church in an equally stunning dress.

“I feel like a goddamn penguin in this outfit. How did I let Maggie talk me into this?” Jim grumbled, also fussing with his tie, messing up the work Danneel had done. She slapped his hand away and fixed it again, until the sleek silver material lined up perfectly. As a last touch, she tucked a white flower into his lapel.

“You look amazing.” Danneel smiled and dabbed at the corners of her eyes. “And no, I am not crying.”

“God, you’re a bigger wreck than I am. Is it time yet? When do we get this show on the road?” Jim glanced around, anxious.

Jensen looked at his watch. “Two minutes. I guess we can go out now and get in position. Jim, are you sure you want to do this? It’s a long walk, and you’ve only been in therapy three months.”

Jim smiled. “I’m going to walk out there on my own two legs and marry that girl of mine if it kills me.” He rose from his wheelchair as Jensen pulled out a handheld diagnostic unit and double-checked the two signal relay discs fixed just above and below Jim’s spinal break. They were working, of course. Jensen had checked them a dozen times.

Jim stood there, a delighted expression on his face. “Jensen, I gotta hand it to you, son, this is one thing I’d never thought I’d live to see happen. Standing on my own two feet. I got to thank you again. You don’t know what this means to me.” He pulled Jensen in for a crushing hug. “You’ve given me my life back.”

“Only after I took it, Uncle Jim,” Jensen reminded him sadly.

“Stow that crap. It was an accident. You didn’t do anything on purpose. And my God, son, you’ve worked your butt off for years to make this happen. And I appreciate the hell out of it. I love you. I always have.”

Jensen might have blotted his eyes on his own sleeve at that point, but the vestibule door opened, distracting everyone. Jared popped his head into the room. “Hey guys, it’s time.”

Danneel gave Jim a quick kiss on the cheek and scampered out the side door. “I’m going to take my seat. See you after the ceremony.”

Jensen and Jared stood side by side, a step behind Jim, all three in smoky silver tuxedos. As they started out the door, Jim whispered, “Now, only grab me if it really looks like I’m falling.”

The boys smiled and watched Jim step confidently into the chapel. Jared reached for Jensen’s hand and gripped it lightly. It had been a long road, but they were still together and very much in love. Jensen glanced down at the matching engagement rings on their ring fingers. Soon it would be their turn. Jensen was more than okay with that.

“Okay, Wonderboy, let’s do this.”

“Love you, Science Guy.” Jared squeezed his hand. Jensen never wanted him to let go, not for the rest of his life.

  
**FIN**  
  


¤ ¤ ¤

^^ Comments always appreciated no matter when you read the story : )


End file.
